Stone Wall Army
by accidentalfizzle
Summary: There was a prophesy about her far before she could slip away. Her parents did that part for her. She just has to go through with the whole prophesy thing- that and her teen years.
1. Chapter 1

**YEAR ONE**

 _"_ _Sir…" A man spoke. He was the youngest in the room but he looked mid-aged. He had dark skin and had slight wrinkles near his mouth. His hair was thinning at the center of his head like a bullseye. He had a thin nose that tipped upwards. His eyes were almost black. He didn't look friendly._

 _"_ _Yes?" Another much older man spoke from the back of the room, voice gravely. His face was covered by a curtain of made of shadow. There was a certain terrifying power radiating off of him. He sat on a throne-like chair with complicated carvings. They seemed to have people. The ones on the top of the throne were holding thin sticks. The ones on the bottom looked dirty and mangled._

 _The mid-aged man looked hesitant. It seemed he didn't want to deliver news he had. "The girl- Naliha's offspring…" He uttered._

 _The bits of the old man's face you could see distorted. "What about her?" He spat._

 _The other man's words were quick. "I don't like to mention her but- we cannot forget about her! She must almost schooling age by now… I know my children are…" He said._

 _"_ _Alastair!" The old man called out._

 _A man- younger than the powerful man but older than the other scrambled out of a door. "Yes, sir?" He said, bowing his head. He had the same hair pattern as the young man and looked somewhat like him._

 _"_ _Find the filth Naliha gave birth to." He ordered. The name 'Naliha' seemed to be forced out of his mouth like vomit._

 _The man- allegedly Alastair, seemed to have a face of sickness in reaction to the name. "I have no idea where she went. She wasn't there when I took care of her parents." He said._

 _The man rose from the chair. His face was pale, almost a dusty gray. His eyes were small and beady. His lips barely existed. "I said… Find her." The man repeated in a low tone._

 _"_ _Of course, sir." Alastair corrected himself._

 _"_ _Before she turns sixteen."_

 _"_ _Yes, sir."_

 _"_ _Dead would be the best way to bring her to me."_

 _Alastair looked at his master grimly._

 _"_ _Of course."_


	2. Chapter 2

Jayla woke up and nearly bucked heads with someone. "Jay… easy." Carol chuckled. She was Jayla's adopted mother. Something that took getting used to.

Almost two years back, Jayla had been taken from her real parents. They were delusional and unstable. Child Protective Services decided that they were incapable of providing an unwavering home for a child and took her away from them.

Jayla had good memories of her parents. They knew a lot of magic tricks and always made her laugh and smile. She knew they loved her a lot. Every memory of them was filled with this warm feeling of happiness and love. There was never a dull moment in her original home in New Orleans. Of course, every day wasn't a parade but there was _always_ something happening. There was always somewhere to explore.

Of course, Jayla understood now that her parents weren't able to provide for her because of their mental states. It was tough and she used to throw tantrums about missing her parents but she was much more mature now. She was almost eleven!

Carol and Simon Wynwood adopted her. They were nice people- terribly unexciting but nice. They loved museums and learning. The only interesting thing they had to offer was their cat- Rory. He acted like a little lion half the time, which meant lots of yawning that looked like mighty roars. Hence the name Rory. The Wynwoods got her the cat when she had first arrived. She knew they cared about her a lot but deep down Jayla missed her real parents- no matter how crazy they were.

Life had been slightly tough on her- seeing as she had accidentally caught her school on fire when she started at her new school last year. It truly wasn't her fault! One moment she was holding a candle for chorus and the next the girl next to her's robes were on fire. The girl was a jerk anyway…

"Sorry, Carol." She said, rubbing the sweat off her forehead. "I just had a nightmare is all."

Carol folded her hands on her lap and tilted her head. "Oh? What was it about?"

Jayla had a difficult time putting the words together. "Well… nothing really scary happened… just an eerie, tense feeling throughout it."

Her adoptive mother nodded. "I understand." She told Jayla. "Anyway- happy birthday, sweetie!" She said.

"Oh right." Jayla gargled groggily. It happened to be July sixteenth.

Simon Wynwood came in, holding a stack of pancakes. "Breakfast in bed for our favorite eleven year old!" He exclaimed cheerfully. The crinkles of his smiles always nearly met the silver frames of his glasses.

"Oh, thanks." Jayla said, smiling. The plate was handed to her along with a letter. She picked up the envelope- assuming it was a card until further examination.

 _Ms. J Wynwood_

 _18 Oak Road,_

 _Faversham_

 _Kent_

"What's this?" She asked, holding it up.

Simon shrugged. "It came in the post."

Jayla ripped open the seal on the letter. She unfolded the paper.

 _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

 _Dear Ms. Wynwood,_

 _We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find the enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

 _Term begins on September 1_ _st_ _. We await your owl by no later than July 31_ _st_ _._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Dorothy Williams_

 _Deputy Headmistress_

She took a sharp breath. Jayla tried to scoff at it but she had a deep rooted feeling of connection with the stupid piece of paper.

"What is it, honey?" Carol said.

"This letter…" She said, trying to laugh it off.

"What does it say?" Simon asked.

"Well-" She began but was interrupted by a tapping noise. She looked to the source and saw a grey owl pecking at the window. She furrowed her eyebrows. A memory came back to her of her parents.

 _"_ _I first got this owl when I was at Hogwarts…" Her mother said, attaching a note a brown bird._

"Hogwarts…" She whispered. Jayla got up from the bed, dropping the letter. She rushed to the window and opened it. The owl flew into the room, making a beautiful swoop. It landed on her purple duvet. It pecked at the letter.


	3. Chapter 3

She anxiously sat on the steps outside her house. Simon came up from behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Katashi is going to be here soon, yeah?" He asked.

"Yea-" She began to reply but she did not finish.

There was at one moment nothing on the lawn, the next three people were standing on the freshly cut grass. A young girl- probably Jayla's age stood next to a slightly older boy, maybe a year older or so. The last person in the row of people was much taller and looked to be at least sixteen if not older. They were all of some kind of Asian descent. The oldest boy's skin was pale compared to the other two- whose skin was pretty tan for being Asian.

"Blimey, Kio! Stop pushing me before we go!" The girl cried irately, stumbling.

"It's not my fault you have such an annoying face!" He yelled back, grinning.

"That doesn't even make sense!" She retorted.

The oldest one groaned as if saying 'I hate dealing with twelve year olds'. He finally looked to Jayla and smiled. "Hello. I'm Katashi and… these- these are my siblings." He sighed, glancing at his brother and sister who were now slapping each other around. "This is Amiyah…" Katashi said, gesturing to the girl who was elbowing her brother. "And this is Mikio." He said, gesturing to the boy who was pulling Amiyah's hair.

"Lovely." She breathed. Jayla looked up at Simon, who gave her a reassuring look.

She got up from her seat on the steps. Dusting herself off, she introduced herself. "I'm Jayla Wynwood."

Amiyah and Mikio stopped fighting and nodded. "Nice to meet ya! I'm in my second year… I'm in Gryffindor. It's the best house." Mikio told her. "Also, you can call me Kio." He added with a dazzling smile.

"I'm going into my first year just like you." Amiyah said, grinning.

"That's good." Jayla said, smiling. At least she'd know _someone_.

"I'm in my second to last year. I'm a Gryffindor like my brother. I'm a prefect." Katashi told her. Jayla nodded in reply. "Are you ready to go? We don't have any muggle transport but- if you're daring enough to appartate with us than it'll be a lot easier." He said.

"Is that what you just did?" She asked.

"Yeah." Amiyah replied.

Jayla shrugged. "Why not give it a go?"

Simon pipped in. "Is… is that safe?" He asked anxiously.

Katashi smiled at her adoptive father. "Yes."

Although he looked slightly nervous, he nodded. He patted Jayla's shoulder once before giving her a smile.

"Take my arm." Katashi said, holding out his forearm to her. She grabbed onto it without unsureness. One second she was just standing there, the next she felt like she was going to implode. Everything was pushing towards her center. Then, as quick as it started- it ended. She was standing on a stone ground. She opened her eyes and saw a somewhat dark colored alley. There was tall buildings that seemed to bend towards the street at the top.

"I could've used a proper warning!" She exclaimed.

"Sorry." Katashi apologized with a cheeky smile.

She shrugged, looking around. "It's alright."

Jayla took a closer look at the stores and her jaw dropped. There were carts on wheels carrying objects she couldn't explain. There were objects defying any physics law. Brooms floating as kids stared at it eagerly. Other things she didn't understand surrounded her.

"Wh-What?" She uttered.

The Kimura family all grinned. Amiyah wrapped her arm around Jayla. "Welcome to the world of magic- I think you'll enjoy your stay." She said and then winked at her.

Jayla couldn't do anything but nod.

"You have your list, correct?" Katashi asked.

"Yeah." She mumbled, shakily scrambling around her pockets.

"First things first, we should go Gringotts to exchange your muggle money." He suggested. She nodded and followed him to a building with a large dragon on it. She thought it was beautiful.

She stood to stare at it for a brief moment but then it moved. She stumbled backwards, bumping into Amiyah. "Pretty cool, huh?" She said.

"I would say so!" Jayla exclaimed, dumbfounded.

Amiyah chuckled. They began walking into the bank. "You probably want some info on Hogwarts. Of course, it's my first year but I can tell you quite a bit." Amiyah said.

"Oh, yeah… I have no idea what they do there." Jayla said.

Amiyah smiled excitedly. "It's a really mint place! There's these things called houses. There's Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. As my brothers said before, they're both in Gryffindor. Basically Gryffindor is for brave people. It's pretty fun, apparently. That's the house I want to be in. Ravenclaw is for smart, creative people. Nerds most of them… Hufflepuff is for really nice people. Slytherin has a bad rep. They're known for being a little prejudice towards muggle-borns… but most of them aren't all that bad- so my brothers say. They're traits are cunning and resourceful."

"Muggle-borns…?" Jayla repeated.

"Oh… You're one. Your parents are muggles right?" Amiyah said.

"Muggles are non-magic people, right?" Jayla said.

"Yep." Amiyah replied.

"Well… those are my adoptive parents. My real parents were crazy… _apparently_." She said, doubting her parents' insanity.

"You think they weren't?" The witch asked.

"Well-" She began but was interrupted by Katashi.

She was so focused on the conversation she hadn't noticed the goblin looking people behind the counters of the bank. One was peering down at her. "Jayla, give him your muggle money and he'll give you wizard money." He said.

Nodding, she waltzed over to the counter and gave the goblin guy. They weren't too adorable up close but the goblin smiled at her friendlily. He handed her a rather nice stack of coins for the two hundred pounds Simon gave her. He was unsure what to give her and this seemed about right for what she was buying.

"Let's get you a wand!" Katashi bellowed enthusiastically.

She nodded eagerly. "Come on we got to get there fast!" Mikio said, beginning to sprint. Some of the goblins glared at him with annoyance. Amiyah laughed and gestured for Jayla to follow her. She did and felt a happiness stir within her she hadn't felt in a long time.

Mikio stopped them in front of shop called _Ollivanders Wand Shop_. Amiyah and Jayla looked at each other excitedly. Mikio opened the door for Jayla, only to slam it on Amiyah's. She grumbled profanities at her older brother.

Everything was so exciting. She couldn't wait to experience all of it.


	4. Chapter 4

Amiyah and Jayla got along famously. For the remainder of the summer, Amiyah wrote each other letters since Jayla had gotten an owl named Zi. They seemed to have quite a bit in common.

Amiyah answered all of her questions, even if it meant, god forbid, talking to one of her brothers. She even talked a little bit about how she used to live in America. Jayla hoped she was sorted into the same house as Amiyah. She had a feeling she was going to be.

Finally after a month and a half of waiting, it was the fateful day. All her things was neatly packed. She had packed her things over and over in anticipation.

When she woke up, she was so nervous that she took out everything in her trunk. Carol walked into her room and sat with her silently as she helped her repack her junk. Jayla gave Carol a thankful smile. She never pushed Jayla too far. She didn't ask why she was packing her trunk for the millionth time.

The trunk was packed. They both got up and dusted themselves off. "I'm going to miss you, Jay." She told her.

Jayla licked her lips. Carol was a very sweet lady and had made her feel as at home as she possibly could. "I'll miss you, too." She said.

A big smile creeped onto her face. Wordlessly, she got up and helped Jayla get her trunk downstairs. Simon was eating eggs and toast. Carol kissed her husband's cheek and he cracked a joke. Jayla had to admit, it had been kind of nice living with the Wynwood's.

Jayla glanced at the mirror that was hung next to the front door. Panic detonated inside her. She had totally forgotten about her hair!

Usually, she wasn't one to worry about her hair much but this was the first day- she had to try a little. She clawed at her hair, trying to smooth it out but it was impossible with the curly explosion on top of her head.

Carol noticed and sat Jayla down in a chair. She fixed her puffy hair into a French plait. With that, they were off to King's Cross Station.

Amiyah gave her clear directions on what to do at platform 9 and ¾. She turned to her adoptive parents before one final goodbye. Carol cried. Simon looked teary. Jayla ran through a wall.

She felt guilty, leaving them behind as went to a place they would never be able to.

Though when she saw Amiyah arguing with Mikio, she forgot about the muggle world instantly. He was bewitching her pigtails to pull themselves away from her. She shoved at his chest. Jayla grinned at the siblings' toils before jogging as fast as she could while dragging her trunk.

"Jay!" Amiyah called as soon as she saw her. When she got close enough, Amiyah wrapped her arms around her.

"What's up, Miss. American?" Mikio said, punching her arm.

Katashi turned around from the girl he was talking to. She was tall and had jet black hair and pale blue eyes. She smiled at Jayla and gave her the feeling she was kind. "Hey, Jayla. You excited?" The oldest Kimura spoke.

"Excited is an understatement!" Jayla cried.

Katashi chuckled. The girl he was talking to before took hold of his hand. He looked at her and smiled. "This is Sara. She's a Hufflepuff." He told Jayla.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Jayla Wynwood." She told the dark haired girl.

"It's nice to meet you, too." Sara said, bowing her head slightly.

"Come on! Let's get on the train." Amiyah pleaded, grabbing Jayla's forearm. She nodded, of course, and the two began trotting to the train. They found an empty compartment and Amiyah started to show her a collection of cards from a sweet called Chocolate Frogs.

A girl slid open the door. She had bright purple hair, dark brown eyes, and pale skin. She had strange nose and looked Spanish even if her skin was pale. A girl stood behind her who had bronzy colored hair that went down to her shoulder blades and murky, hazel eyes. She was much tanner but looked like she was white in race. She had an athletic build, especially for an eleven year old.

The one with the dark eyes jerked her head at Amiyah and Jayla. "Mind if we sit in here?" The girl asked.

"Nope." Amiyah said, gesturing for them to sit.

The girl with purple hair slammed herself down on the seat. The other girl sat herself down _much_ quieter. They seemed to be opposites. "I'm Lucrecia. This is Drea." The one who had sat down disruptively said.

"Name's Amiyah." Jayla's friend said.

"I'm Jayla." She said, looking at the two new girls.

The four girls began talking. At first, Jayla thought Lucrecia was going to be a Gryffindor but then she notice her twinkle in her eyes as she said some things that Drea would roll her eyes to. She was lying. A lot. Lucrecia sure seemed to like doing it.

Drea on the other hands was rather quiet and didn't seem like a Slytherin. She was either a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw.

Just before the train began to move, a boy with the bluest hair she had ever seen burst into their compartment. "Don't tell him I'm here!" He said with a slight lisp. The boy ran and ducked next to Jayla's legs. A group of older boys ran by the compartment and the blue haired boy sighed in relief. He clutched his chest and leaned his head against Jayla's leg. It didn't seem she knew what he was leaning on. He looked to what it was that he was slanting on and scampered off of her.

"Sorry!" He yelped with a strong British accent and lisp, almost making it hard to understand the one word.

She smiled at him, chuckling. "It's okay." Jayla said.

He began to get up but saw the boys pass again and ducked down. "Eh… you ladies mind if I stay here?" He asked with a toothy smile.

Amiyah and Jayla glanced at each other before shrugging. "Go ahead." Jay said.

"Thanks." He said gratefully.

Jayla scooted over and the boy sat in the space she made. "I'm Thomas Ted Davis." He said, extending his hand to Amiyah while grinning. He seemed to smile a lot for a guy who had a gang after him.

"That's a mouthful." Amiyah remarked.

"That's true. _Of course_ I'm the one to get a lisp when my name is Thomas Ted Dravis." He laughed.

Jayla tapped her chin. "How about we call you TTD." She suggested.

"What about 2D for two T's." Ami suggested.

"Sounds good." Thomas shrugged.

A woman pushing a cart came into their compartment. 2D and Jayla watched as the other children took out wizard money. 2D whispered to Jayla, "What're they doin'?" He asked.

Jay straightened up, peering over to the cart. "Looks like they're buying sweets... or preforming another weird magic ritual." She said.

"You a muggle-born?" He asked.

"I'm not sure. I was adopted." She sighed.

"Tough. I'm a muggle-born but my brother hasn't told me anyfing about Hogwarts or any wizard stuff. He's a bugger." He grumbled.

"Amiyah and her family taught me everything." She told him. "She'll help you too."

"Thank goodness." He muttered. "You a yank, then?" 2D asked.

"American? Yes." She laughed.

"Interesting. While Amiyah- right? That's her name?" 2D said. Jayla nodded. "Well, while she's teaching me magic stuff, I'll teach you British stuff. I guess you'll have to teach Amiyah something." He said.

"I guess so." She chuckled.

"What's your name again?" He asked.

"Jayla Wynwood." She told him.

"Nice to meet ya, Jay." He said, grinning at her.

After a long train ride and a short boat ride, they all waited outside something called the Great Hall in a humongous, beautiful castle. 2D, Amiyah, Drea, Lucrecia, and Jayla all stood together nervously, talking about what house they wanted. 2D said he wanted Gryffindor or Hufflepuff even though he said he'd make quite the bad boy. Amiyah rolled her eyes at that one. Drea said she was hoping for Ravenclaw. Lucrecia said she was _pretty_ sure she was getting Slytherin. Everyone already knew that Ami was getting Gryffindor.

As for Jayla…

She wasn't sure. 2D said she'd be Hufflepuff for sure but Jayla wasn't unquestioning to that. Amiyah said there was no way she wasn't going to be a Gryffindor. Lucrecia said there could be a place for her at Slytherin. Drea said she could be in Ravenclaw. Jayla didn't exactly possess a love of learning so she could at least rule that one out. She wasn't the best at lying either so she wasn't sure Slytherin would be the place for her.

"Hello, first years! I'm the deputy headmistress, Professor Williams." A woman said as she walked out in front of the whole lot of them. "In a few minutes, we will walk into the Great Hall. You will be sorted to your house and then sit with your house. Welcome to Hogwarts. I think you'll enjoy it." The teacher said with a small twinkle in her eye.

Amiyah and Jayla looked at each other excitedly. After Professor Williams adjusted herself, she opened the huge doors. A huge room was displayed. There were four long tables filled with students. Each table was identified by big crests hanging from- well nothing. The candles that lit the whole room were also suspended from nothing. When she looked pass the candles she saw there was no ceiling. She then realized it must've been bewitched to look so.

She was so intrigued by the ceiling she stumbled a little and knocked into the girl in front of her. "Watch it." The girl hissed.

Jayla's eyebrows furrowed. The girl turned slightly and Jayla's eyebrows furrowed more. There was something in the girl's face she recognized. The girl scoffed at her lack of response and whipped herself forwards again, flicking her hair in Jayla's face. The girl's brown eyes reminded her of someone's.

She tried not to let her distract her as she kept walking. Finally the first name was called. "Adams, Stephanie." Professor Williams bellowed.

A short, thin girl with short red hair walked up to a small stool. There was a pointed hat in the hands of Professor Williams. The girl sat on the stool and let the woman put the hat on her head. Her eyes dashed around at the tables. Finally, the hat called out, "Ravenclaw!".

Amiyah had warned her about the hat but Jayla had been so ruffled she had forgotten. The next person to be called up was sorted into Hufflepuff. She looked over at the table. It seemed like it would be a enjoyable place to be. Of course, she wanted to be with Amiyah but she needed to go where she would feel like she belonged.

Soon enough, Professor Williams was calling 2D's name. The lanky eleven year old made his way to the stool. He looked awfully nervous as the hat was placed onto his azure hair. He was staring up at the hat, almost going cross-eyed. Ami said it talked to you but in your mind which was pretty mental to Jayla. No pun intended.

The hat moved its mouth around in thought before yelling, "Hufflepuff!".

The hat was taken off of him and he grinned. He jogged over to the Hufflepuff table, being greeted by a new table of peers.

Young wizards and witches kept going up. None of them seemed to frown as the hat called their new home. What if she got somewhere she didn't actually fit in? What if that hat told her she wasn't actually a witch? What if she got _Ravenclaw_?! She wasn't smart enough!

She was so busy thinking to herself and practicing her math in her headthat she missed a large chunk of the alphabet. "Kimura, Amiyah." Professor Williams said.

Ami looked at Jayla with a big grin before prancing up to the stool. Why couldn't Jayla be so sure of what house she was in?

The hat didn't sit on her head for long before it bellowed "Gryffindor!". Jayla watched as Amiyah raced down to the table, sitting with her siblings. Mikio ruffled her hair with a huge grin on his face as she sat down.

She kept darting her eyes around the crests through the 'L' last names. Slytherin… she couldn't go there. She wasn't _amazing_ at lying. Ravenclaw was out of the equation entirely. Hufflepuff could suit her. 2D said she was really nice. She finally glanced at the red fabric crest. Gryffindor seemed awfully intriguing.

"Martinez, Lucrecia." Professor Williams said, breaking her thoughs.

Jayla watched the girl walk up to the stool nervously. She sat and that hat was placed on her head.

"Slytherin!" The hat yelled.

Lucrecia smirked and jogged down to the Slytherin table that was cheering for her.

Jayla cursed the Wynwoods for making her take their last name. If she had kept her last name, she would have already gone. Igwe was much earlier in the alphabet.

None of her newly made friends were going for a while so she began to look at the girl who had snapped at her before. Her nose looked familiar like in the way her eyes had. She looked black but not fully, kind of like Jayla. Though Jayla looked less black than the girl did.

"Travert, Tristian." Professor Williams called.

There was a few whispers from the older students which made her break her stare at the mean girl. She looked up to see a boy who looked completely calm, bored almost, walking up to the stool. He looked tired. He had large, pink bags under his brown eyes. He had somewhat pale skin. He looked like he could be German from his blonde hair and facial structure but there was also something French looking in him. He had a frown on his face.

She turned to Drea, giving her a questioning look. She just shrugged in return.

The hat was placed on the boy's head and he sat there with boredom on his face. The hat seemed to make a frustrated face before yelling out, "Ravenclaw.". This time it didn't sound excited.

The boy got up and walked to the table as he was being cheered. Their cheers seemed slightly forced since the air was so awkward. He sat on the end of the table, not looking at the person next to him.

"Wynwood, Jayla." Professor Williams called out. She wasn't expecting it but apparently there was no one with 'U' or 'V' last names. Drea gave her an awkward thumbs-up. She took a deep breath before striding up to the stool. She plopped herself down.

She found the Travert boy again and stared at him. " _You're distracted…_ " The hat spoke in her head. She jumped a little and looked up at the hat.

"No." She thought.

" _Okay… well… you seem to be…_ " He mumbled. She tried not to scream 'what's my house?!'. She managed to keep herself patient. "Waiting for an adventure…"

She glanced over at the Gryffindor table. Amiyah gave her a big smile. She switched her glance to the Hufflepuff table where 2D was sitting. He gave her a toothy smile. Her eyes made a sweep of the room and she saw the Tristian guy was staring at her. She was being sorted of course but she couldn't help but feel like he _knew_ her. Like he knew more about who she was than she did herself.

" _I know where you should go…_ " The sorting hat said.

Her heartbeat was slightly out of hand. "Gryffindor!" He called out loudly.

She broke out into a smile. The cheers could barely be noticed by Jayla. The hat was taken off of her. She jogged to the Gryffindor table and squeezed in next to Amiyah. The girl wrapped his arms around her tightly. "I told you, Jay!"

She couldn't stop the huge grin on her face. She looked and saw that the hat was being placed on the familiar girl's head. Jayla cussed at herself for not hearing her name. She nudged Amiyah. "Who's that?" She asked.

Amiyah sucked in a deep breath and exchanged glances with Mikio. "She's Elizabeth Yaxley. Thinks she's far better than anyone since she's completely pure-blood. Annoying frankly." Mikio explained, rolling his eyes.

"Slytherin!" The hat called out.

"Yeah, that's about what I thought." Mikio muttered.

Elizabeth smirked and pointed her nose to the air as she pranced down to the Slytherin table.

"That's her twin." Amiyah told her, nodding at the boy who was being called to sit on the stool. He had a kinder face and just seemed warmer.

"Hufflepuff!" The old hat announced.

Jayla looked to the two Kimuras to gage their reaction. They both seemed a bit shocked. "Maybe he's got a bit of his aunt in him." Mikio whispered.

"Yeah… but… she was…" Amiyah said but shrugged, probably thinking whatever she was going to say wasn't necessary.

Jayla was going to ask what the story of that Tristian guy was but Drea was going up. The hat sat on her head shortly before she was put in Ravenclaw.

Seeing as Drea was the last person, the woman at the center of the table stood up. She had gray hair and wrinkles, showing her age. She stood with a certain posture that was very proper. She walked to the podium in front of her. "Hello, new and old students… and welcome to Hogwarts." The woman began, knowing to pause. Most of the children at the tables whooped and hollered. "As your headmistress, I have seen many years of this school… even as a student. I know that the exams are tolling but- Hogwarts is a place where anyone can find a place where they belong. So don't be afraid to embrace the parts of you that are abnormal and have a wonderful year." She said to the students before smiling.

As she turned back to the table, food appeared on the tables. Jayla's jaw dropped. "Wow…" She mumbled, grabbing the newly-visible food and piling it onto her plate. She smiled as she ate, feeling nothing but sheer joy.

She looked up to see the Tristian boy staring at her again. He didn't bother to look away.

 **A/N:**

 **Amiyah and 2D are based off of characters from the band Gorillaz.**


	5. Chapter 5

"Is this place confusing or am I just stupid." 2D muttered.

"You're just stupid." Ami teased.

"Why do the stairs move?" Jayla asked Drea who shrugged. She was going on pure adrenaline at the moment since she had stayed up all night with Ami, talking about rubbish. Their dorm mates, Angelina Terso, Linda Mitchell, Aisha Raja, were all very nice about it. They probably couldn't sleep either considering they joined the after a couple hours.

She looked at the stairs ahead of her. "Might as well…" She mumbled, jumping onto the staircase and dashing up the stairs. She waited for Ami at the top who was just boarding the moving staircase.

"Why'd I have to make friends with Gryffindors?!" 2D called after them but grinned.

The first class they had was potions with Hufflepuff. 2D saw them during breakfast and they began walking to classes together.

2D caught up to them and adjusted his bag. "You guys run too fast for me." He muttered.

"Maybe you run too slowly for us." Amiyah badgered innocently.

Rolling his eyes, he just huffed in response. They turned a corridor and Jayla saw what she assumed was the potions room. She led the way into it, finding a three person table and sitting at it. "I don't know how people find secret passages when I can barely find a class." Ami muttered.

"I mean, you might have some spare time in the seven years you're here…" 2D mumbled, itching his head.

"Fair enough." Amiyah said, shrugging.

Jayla looked out the door and saw that girl- Elizabeth walking down the hall with Lucrecia. She made note to ask Lucrecia about her later. She turned to 2D. "Do you know about the Michael Yaxley guy?" Jay asked.

"Yeah! He's one of roommates. He's real nice." Her blue haired replied.

Jayla nodded and looked at the front of the classroom. Amiyah and 2D began arguing about something trivial as Jayla just chuckled.

A woman walked in, presumably the teacher. She took no time before saying, "Hello, I'm Professor Webb. I will teach you potions. They are not as simple as one might think and take precision. You will need to listen to my instructions as well as figure out different tactics for yourself. The art of potion crafting is marvelous, I promise you."

When she put it like that, it seemed quite interesting to Jayla. Though when she was instructed to turn to page forty of her textbook, _Magical Drafts and Potions_ , she saw there was a whole lot of words to read.

"Always and I mean _always_ read the instructions and precautions before you start." Professor Webb told them, wagging a finger.

Amiyah slumped her chin onto her hand. "Geez, this has a lot of rules."

"You have a lot of rules." 2D said back immaturely.

"That doesn't even make sense, you sod." Ami retorted.

"You don't even make sense…" He muttered back, sounding deflated.

That class went by rather slowly, seeing as it consisted of taking turns reading out of the textbook and actual learning.

"I swear some of those kids can't read." Amiyah grumbled with an annoyed tone as they left the classroom.

"Hey! I'm one of those kids!" 2D protested.

"Sorry, 2D." Ami laughed.

He gave one last toothy smile before jogging in another direction, hopefully in the right one, for his next class.

"Now we have…" Jay mumbled, looking at her timetable. "Herbology… which is in a greenhouse apparently." She said, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah, it's out around the back." Amiyah said, leading the way.

"I sure hope we're not going deeper into the castle." Jay laughed.

The walk there was filled with laughing and shoving each other. It felt like Ami understood her on a level that she had never felt before. Maybe it was because she understood what it was like to have Gryffindor qualities or what it was like to be witch but she felt at home around her.

The two entered the green house and stood next to Drea. "How was your first class?" Jay asked.

"I don't know… I wasn't killed in Charms…" Drea breathed.

Tucking stray curl behind her ear, Jayla laughed. She glanced down at her Ravenclaw badge. Her eyebrows furrowed as she remembered the staring boy. She turned her head slightly to look for him but decided to just ask Drea about him. "Hey… do you know that guy Tristian Travert?" Jayla asked her.

"Uhm… kind of… He didn't talk at all last night. This girl named Brianna told me there's a lot of rumors about him. Something about his brother… I don't know actually. I wasn't really paying attention." Drea told her.

Jayla sighed and looked around, searching for the boy. She was just very curious about him. All the other first years were very hyper active and he was completely unexcited to be able to preform magic.

She found him, looking at a plant. She bit her lip, glancing at Ami. "I'll be right back I just want to look at some of the plants." She excused.

Her friend gave her a slightly weird look. "Alright."

Jayla walked to the boy with blonde hair. "Hey." She said.

He looked up at her, frowning. "Hi." The Ravenclaw mumbled. He seemed to have a pretty high-pitched voice.

She glanced at the plants. "These are pretty cool." Jayla said, looking at the pink pods growing from the plants.

"They're Puffapods… they have things inside them that bloom when they touch solid objects." Tristian told her.

She grinned. "That's cool!"

Tristian raised an eyebrow at the plants. "Yes…"

She licked her lips nervously. Why wasn't he responding? "I'm Jayla Wynwood, by the way." She said, extending her hand.

He furrowed his eyebrows before shaking her hand. "I'm Tristian Travet." He told her, looking at her with his brown eyes. They looked like someone had taken honey and mixed a bit of chocolate in to them to get the color with flakes of dark chocolate on top. They were truly beautiful. He had a mole above his eyebrow that was small and flat. She could've sworn she saw a few freckles.

"Jayla, come look! This one bites!" Amiyah yelled.

Turning, she saw a group of Gryffindors poking a plant. She looked back to Tristian but he was already walking towards the scrubs on the other side of the greenhouse. She sighed and ran over to the Gryffindors.

Ami shoved her shoulder into Jayla's as she arrived. "Getting cheeky already?" Amiyah teased.

Jay blushed. "No! I was just curious about who he was. He seemed quite quiet and lonely."

"Aren't you a saint?" Amiyah joked, nudging her again.


	6. Chapter 6

The first month of school went by quickly. Most of it was just shenanigans without much actual learning. Though, when October hit, teachers began buckling down. Essays on top of essays were assigned. It was slightly difficult to keep up with but Jayla managed. It was easier to remember than the trivial stuff she learned at Muggle schools.

 _Dear Carol and Simon,_

 _I am really enjoying Hogwarts. I've made friends already! Amiyah got sorted into Gryffindor with me and we share a room! My other roommates are pretty cool. One's name is Linda. She's pretty crazy. She'll a pick a fight with anyone… but all in good fun. Aisha is one of my roommates. She likes to play little tricks. My last roommate is Angelina. She has really pretty hair. My other friend's name is Thomas Ted Davis but we call him 2D. He has blue hair naturally which is pretty wild. He's really clumsy. Yesterday at broomstick flying lessons, he got smacked in the face with his broom at least five times. His brother Parker is really mean to him. He and his friends are always trying to beat him up. Most of the time Amiyah cuts in before they can. My other friend Lucrecia is in Slytherin with this really mean girl. Lu likes to say she constantly acts like she's got a broomstick up her butt. But besides the mean girl, I'm having a lot of fun! But I am also learning… promise._

 _Love,_

 _Jay_

 _PS: Tell Rory I say hi!_

 _PSS: How do you make friends with a shy person?!_

She finished the letter and let it dry for a second. She looked around her common room. Linda was beating Mikio with a book, who had just brushed a neon green streak in her bright red, curly hair with a Comb-a-Chameleon brush (a brush that changed the user's hair color). She chuckled before folding her parchment and putting it in an envelope. She stuffed the letter in her bag and started off towards the owlry.

When she got to the West Tower, Jayla saw Tristian, attaching a note to a dark brown owl. "Hey, Tristian." She said, approaching him like she would a small cat.

He whipped around and grabbed his chest. "Jeez, Jayla…" He uttered.

"I'm sorry." She said, smiling cheekily. She took a step closer. "Who's the letter to?"

He looked down at it and then back at her, still holding that frown. "My mother." He told her.

She smiled. "My letter is to my adoptive parents. I miss them." She said. Jayla approached her owl Zi. She wondered if she'd ever get over how pretty the owl was. It looked like he had stripes since some of the layers of feathers were brown and some were white. She scratched Zi's head and scourged her pocket for the bag of bread crumbs she had collected for the bird.

"Did the hat debate… your house?" Tristian asked.

She turned slightly as she let the bird pecked at the crumps in her hand. She tilted her head slightly in confusion. "Yeah, why?"

He wagged his finger at her in thought. "You- You were going to be a Hufflepuff…?" Tristian said.

She looked down, adjusting her red and gold scarf. "Yeah."

"Does that make you worried? Are you worried that your house won't accept you because you're not 'Gryffindor' enough?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

She furrowed his eyebrows. "What are you trying to say?" She said, taking her hand from her owl and attaching the note quickly. Her fingers fumbled slightly. She felt nervous anger filling her from her feet to the top of her skull.

"I'm-" He began but was interrupted. He still had that tired, bothered expression and she wasn't having it.

She threw herself into spin to face the direction of Tristian. "I don't want to hear why I don't belong to Gryffindor because I do."

That was the first time she saw his face change besides the slight look of curiosity minutes before. But even that was a bored curiosity. His face actually distorted into fear and anguish.

She shoved passed him and stormed down the stairs of the West Tower.

The anger that filled her veins distracted her and she only realized after ten minutes of walking she had completely lost her way. "Well great!" She huffed, slumping against a stone wall. Jayla was in a hallway she had never been in. She combed her fingers through her frizzy, unruly hair.

"Why so anguished, my dear Gryffindor?" Someone spoke.

Her head whipped up, looking for the source. There was no one in front of her. Then she saw a painting of an old man with a long beard and small spectacles. He was smiling softly as he peered down at her with his light blue eyes.

"Who-Who are you?" She asked.

"Albus Dumbledore. I was headmaster here before Headmaster McGonagall." He explained.

Jayla's eyebrows furrowed as she racked her brain for the name. Her eyes nearly popped out of her eye sockets as she realized who he was. "You're the greatest wizard of all time!"

He had a playful smile on his lips. "Pish posh…"

She raised her hand to cover her mouth. "I can't believe I get to speak with you."

"Never put other people's time over your existence… I am a painting anyway, so you can't exactly waste my time." He retorted, chuckling slightly.

She furrowed her eyebrows before nodding. "That makes sense, I guess."

"Now Jayla, what has you so upset?" The former headmaster asked.

Pressing together her lips, she raised an eyebrow. "How do you know my name?"

There was a spark in his eyes. "I know a lot of things. I keep myself updated."

That seemed to be true.

Taking a deep breath, she inquired, "Is it possible for the sorting hat to be wrong?"

The side of his mouth tipped upwards. "If I had an every flavored bean for each time a student asked me that, I'd probably have one that actually tasted good by now."

She laughed. Mikio had tricked her into eating a whole box once. She had vomited at a Troll Bugey flavored one.

"At some point, every student doubts their house. Even the ones with the perfectly lined up traits for a house. See, sometimes we can't even really see who we are ourselves, certainly no one else can either. The hat goes into your deep subconscious… therefore if you were really meant to be in another house, you would be." He told her.

It made sense. Most of the time, Jayla didn't even know who she was. And Merlin knows Tristian didn't know who she was. "Thank you, sir." She said, bowing her head.

"There are always people around to help you, Jayla… even if it happens they're inside of a painting." He said with a lively smile.

She nodded, smiling then too. Though it started to slip as she looked around. "Sir, I don't know where I am. Do you know which way to the Gryffindor Tower from here?" Jayla asked.

"There's a pretend door to the left of my frame. Use it to get to the main hall. It is almost diner, I believe." He said.

"A pretend door?"

"It is a door that pretends to be a wall. There are a myriad of them around the castle." He told her.

She tucked her hair behind her ears in determination. She walked to the left of the portrait of Professor Ablus Dumbledore. Pressing on the wall, it swung inwards. She smiled. "Thank you!" She said for the second time.

"Don't be afraid to visit me again, Jayla!" He called after her.


	7. Chapter 7

Her curiosity of Tristian Travert ended there. He was just a stereotypical Ravenclaw. He thought he knew everything. But he didn't.

November came and went rather quickly. Soon enough it was almost Christmas. It had snowed a few inches every day, locking the students inside. This made Mikio and his best friend Troye Linton rather bored. Troye was a rather short kid with rather long blonde hair. He had some mix of blue and green eyes and never looked bored. His eyes were always darting around the room with a smirk like he was waiting for something to go off.

Jayla was leafing through one of her textbook in the Gryffindor common room when someone grabbed her arm. She looked up and saw Liam Thompson was the one to seize her arm. His dark green eyes looked panicked. "Mikio. Troye. Dungbomb. Out now!" Liam uttered, pulling her out the portrait hole. It wasn't gentle but the gesture over all was kind.

After she fully processed what had just happened, three feet out of the portrait hole that was being closed, she looked to Liam. He was scrawny like most boys in their year. He had a buzzed haircut and a kind smile. "Thank you." She breathed.

He smiled at her. "No problem, Jayla." Liam said. Her heart fluttered.

 _Oh no._

She straightened herself out and flattened her skirt. "How many this time?"

"Dungbombs? Around five…" He said, running his hand through his cropped hair.

" _Five?_ " She repeated.

He laughed. "Yeah, they've outdone themselves this time."

Someone grabbed her shoulder. "We need to go find 2D, he's in the hospital wing." Amiyah's voice told her.

She whipped around. "What?!"

Ami nodded. "His jerk brother used a charm to make him puke out hairballs continuously." She explained.

She was exasperated by 2D's brother Parker. He was such a jerk all the time. He was constantly acting inappropriately to anyone. Any girl who was pretty, he'd touch, those who weren't he'd insult. She had no idea how him and 2D were raised by the same people.

"Thanks again." She said to Liam.

He nodded. "Tell 2D I hope he feels better."

"Will do." She replied before rushing off.

The two of them jogged towards the hospital wing. She was worried sick for her friend, she bashed into someone while walking into the wing. She nearly got knocked off her feet but the person gripped her arm tightly. Though, she still almost touched the ground but luckily the person was already pulling her up. She made eye contact with the one and only Tristian Travert. "Sorry." He stammered, not looking at her. He let go of her quickly.

"It's okay." She mumbled.

Amiyah was glancing between them. "Jay…" She said getting her attention.

She nodded and broke her eyes from Tristian. The two girls jogged into the room and heard violent puking noises. Looking towards the source, they saw blue hair sticking out from a bucket. They rushed over. Amiyah patted his bright blue hair. "Let it out, 2D, let it all out."

He finally brought his head up. His dull-blue eyes looked to the ceiling. "I hate my brother…" He uttered weakly.

Jay looked at him sympathetically. "He's a real knob." She agreed.

"2D, I'm sorry I wasn't there, I would've-" Ami said, rolling up her sleeves.

He shook his head. "You didn't have to be… As soon as Parker tried to jinx me, Tristian looked up from his book and totally knocked him away! He blinking hit the wall on the other side of the room! Meanwhile, I'm puking out these gross hairballs. Tristian helped me up, grabbed me a bin and walked me to hospital wing." 2D explained.

Jayla's mouth opened slightly. She quickly closed it. "That's nice of him." Jayla said, glancing to the doorway where she had bumped into him.

2D puked out another hairball before slumping down against his bed. His hooded eyes looked towards them both. "You think I could get out of lessons for this?"

Amiyah swatted him gently. Jayla smiled at 2D.

It was funny since he always seemed to stick out like a sore thumb, having naturally blue hair and already being five feet as an eleven year old but no one took the chance to get to know him. It was a shame on their part to Jayla. He was such a lovable klutz.


	8. Chapter 8

"How was Christmas for you guys?" Angelina asked.

"A bore, obviously." Ami scoffed.

Angelina laughed as she put clips in her hair. She was Greek and had skin almost as dark as Jayla. Hers seemed to glow with beauty. She had light green eyes adorned with the thickest eyelashes. She had pretty chestnut hair. Her wavy hair went down to the curve of her back. Jayla felt like she looked like a fungus infected toenail next to her. See, Jayla had a few kind of messed up teeth. She also was too busy to ever tame her frizzy curls. She had big childish cheeks which looked weird compared to the rest of her skinny body.

Amiyah brushed through her hair with a comb. She had really pretty hair, probably prettier than Angelina's if Jayla really wanted to compare. Her hair was always shinny and smooth. It was straight with barely any wobbles. Her hair was jet black but she said she wanted to dye it bright red or pink one day.

Aisha had slightly frizzy, wavy, long, black hair. Her brown eyes were huge and she had a tiny nose and mouth. Some people said she looked like an owl. She'd just kick anyone who said it to her face in the shins.

Linda was on the other side of the room bunching her ringlets of red hair together to prepare to put in a ponytail. The elastic snapped and she groaned. Jayla chuckled before helping her put it in a tight braid. They had very similar hair except for the color

Jayla walked to dinner alone since she wanted to go much earlier than her roommates. She ran into Lucrecia and they began talking. They were laughing about something but then someone screeched, " _Lucrecia_!"

Both of them turned around. It was the Elizabeth girl. She stomped over and gave a disgusted look at Jayla. "What did I say about hanging out with barely magic blood?" Elizabeth barked at Lucrecia.

She rolled her eyes. "Just because our parents are friends doesn't mean I have to follow your rules or theirs for that matter."

"Your father would be very upset if he found out how you treat _them_." Elizabeth hissed.

Lu paled at that. "Elizabeth, please…"

Jayla darted her eyes between them. "She's not your minion." She said to Elizabeth.

She angrily looked over to her. Jayla was struck with the same thought she always got around Elizabeth. Why did she look so familiar? "You should be mine. You're from _muggles_ , how does that make you magic at all?" She retorted.

Jayla's eyebrows furrowed in anger as she took out her wand. "This does." She uttered before shouting, " _Obscuro_!"

So, maybe Jayla couldn't do many combative spells since she was a first year but she could put a blindfold around Elizabeth. So… that was something.

She screamed and fell to the ground out of surprise. "She's blinded me! She blinded me!" She cried.

Jayla and Lucrecia stifled their laughter but both failed miserably.


	9. Chapter 9

January, February, March went by rather fast. April went by gruelingly slow seeing as all the professors were panicking, trying to get all the information in the students' heads. There must've been smoke coming from Jayla's ears from her brain breaking down from exhaustion. She didn't know how she wrote all those essays without her hand falling off.

The only one who wasn't driven mad by all the exams was Drea who had been studying the whole year. Or at least she didn't _seem_ stressed. Her emotions usually seemed like a blank canvas. Even Mikio and Troye stopped their meddling for a week or so.

June was spent without much sleep until exams were finally over. Jayla had managed to do okay somehow. She didn't get very good grades in muggle school but of course they weren't learning how to make potions or cast spells.

At the end of the third week of June, it was the last day of their first year. She couldn't believe it had gone by so quickly. It seemed like it was only a day ago she was anxiously sitting on a stool, waiting to be categorized.

Amiyah said she could spend some time at her house if she'd like. She said yes of course but she didn't know how she'd survive sleeping without any protection from Mikio. His ways would be stunted to an extent since he wouldn't be able to use magic. She just hoped she wouldn't be there the same time as Troye if he visited.

Most people spent the last day either packing like a maniac due to procrastination or hanging out with their friends but that wasn't exactly how Jayla spent it.

She walked out of the dorm early in the morning when everyone else was still sleeping. Everyone had spent their last night partying. Amiyah was in a deep sleep, snoring quietly. She smiled at her friend. Amiyah had danced all of last night. Jayla fondly remembered her being twirled around by Katashi. She had taken a picture with a magical camera that Mikio passed down to Jay. (He had gotten a new one for Christmas.)

Thinking about the memory made her glance over to the pictures she had taken the night before. She smiled. There was one of all of the girls in her dorm. There was another of Amiyah and Mikio laughing together- a rare sight. One was her and the whole Kimura family. There were so many more that she would be able to cherish.

Jayla walked out of her dorm ever so quietly. She jogged down the hall and found her way to her favorite hallway that contained her favorite portrait.

"Professor?" She called as she reached the hallway.

"Yes, my dear?" He called back.

She grinned and ran up to the portrait. "Good morning, professor." She said.

"Good morning, Jayla." He greeted. "It is the day of your departure for holiday, correct?"

"Yeah… I'm going to miss you, Professor." She said, sitting crisscross on the floor in front of him.

"It shall be slightly boring in the castle without all the students prancing about." He said.

Jayla looked at his image. She wished she could've met the real Professor. He could've taught her loads.

She discussed as many topics as she could until it was around eight thirty. Their farewell almost made her cry since she had become quite close with Albus Dumbledore but she managed to pull herself together enough to keep her tears from falling.

She found her way back to her dorm and got dressed. Angelina and Aisha was already out of the dorm somewhere. Linda was sleeping with her mouth open and hair sticking to her lips. Amiyah was slowly stirring.

Jayla told Amiyah she'd meet her in the Main Hall and she nodded tiredly in response. She managed to make it out of the common room without any pranks happening. Mikio and Troye must've been asleep.

She sat next to 2D when she got there who was certainly in a good mood. He told her about the Hufflepuff celebrations. Theirs must've been slightly jollier since they had won the house cup.

Jayla liked to spend time with 2D. She didn't any siblings but she was sure that the feelings she had for 2D would be the feeling of a brother. But- from observing Mikio and Ami, maybe there was slightly less bickering between 2D and Jay.

Amiyah slumped down next to them and merely held up a hand to stop 2D when he asked her if she was okay.

Jayla got up and went to the bathroom and when she came back Amiyah was sleeping on 2D. He looked like he didn't quite know what to do. She chuckled and sat back down. Jayla kept watch for Mikio while her best friend slept. 2D told her that his brother would be much better to be stuck with when he didn't have magic and his gang of twits.

When Amiyah woke up, she for some reason punched 2D on the chest. "What the blinking hell was that for?" He exclaimed.

"I don't know yet… but…" She tried to fire back. "God, you're a complete gorm."

"I'm the gorm…" He muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Watch it." She said warningly but they were both grinning.

Eventually they had to board train. Drea, Lucrecia, and 2D's friend Clay joined them. She hadn't talked to Clay Blooth much but he seemed nice. Well- of course he was since he was a Hufflepuff. He had hair that was the color of wheat after a harsh summer and eyes the color of dying grass.

The ride felt short considering she didn't want to leave her friends. When they arrived at Kings Cross Station, Clay was the only one to seem actually excited to see his family. They all sluggishly walked off the train. Clay waved goodbye quickly before finding his parents. The rest of them were slower. Drea left next and then Lucrecia. Finally it was the final three who had stayed together all year.

"I'm going to miss you… _both_ … even if I wouldn't like to admit it." Amiyah said, looking at 2D.

Jayla chuckled. "Well, I'm not too proud of me missing you." He retorted his lisp prominent and ears pink.

"I'm not ashamed I'm going to miss you both." Jayla intervened. They both looked at her and smiled. "Come on, guys, bring it in." She said, extending her arms out. They both walked into the hug.

Amiyah found her parents and brothers which left 2D and Jayla to walk where the muggles waited. His family ushered him off. The last she saw of him was him giving her a salute.

Carol smothered her with a _very_ tight hug and Simon ruffled her hair. She took one last glance at the witches and wizards before walking under Carol's arm to the car.


	10. Chapter 10

YEAR TWO

The sky was like a quilt. There were patches with pretty patterns of white swirls and other patches were just light blue. The grass was soft as any pillow inside the house close by. Amiyah and Jayla's hair were touching, swirling together. It looked like a solid block of pure dark chocolate with curls of milk chocolate swirling in. Watching clouds, a rather strange activity for two Gryffindors.

"Do you have that feeling… that things are changing?" Ami said.

Jay flopped her head to look at her friend. "What do you mean?"

"Well… I dunno… My mom said I should wear my hair with more effort at my age… I don't know what that means…" Amiyah sighed.

"Yeah, Carol gave me 'the talk' a couple days after school ended." Jay agreed, resting her hand on her stomach.

"My mom tried but she kept using words I didn't know in Japanese which made it all very complicated." Ami commented.

They looked at each other and both laughed.

"Girls!" Carol called from inside the house. They both got up on their elbows and looked to Jayla's adoptive mother. "Thomas is here."

Both girls darted through the back door. 2D was sitting on the couch in the living room. His cerulean hair was combed neatly with slight residue of gel. He looked slightly uncomfortable as Simon talked to him about different lakes in Connecticut.

As he saw them he stood, giving them his signature toothy smile. Jayla gave him a tight hug. Amiyah excitedly gave him a hug before trying to play it off with disgust.

"How're you, guys?" He said with his thick lisp and accent.

"I'm good. Amiyah's been staying here for a few days." Jayla said. "I can't wait until we go back." She added.

"Yeah… My brother's been being a twit." He mumbled.

"What's up with your hair?" Amiyah commented.

2D clawed at his hair, messing it up. "Me mam told me look presentable… sat me down and combed my hair until my skull hurt." He muttered.

"Oh, Mrs. Davis…" Jayla chuckled. From what 2D had described her of, she was a short-tempered woman with an emphasis on manors. She had seen her in a family photo of his vacation to Ireland. She had had dark hair tied back in a bun and clutched onto 2D's shoulders tightly. She was holding 2D whereas Parker was off to the side looking disinterested. His father had light colored, thinning hair and a nervous look. He had the same scrawny body as 2D except slightly more developed. 2D had been beaming at the camera.

Carol stepped in from the back door. "Dinner's done if you'all are ready."

Jayla nodded and led her friends to the table. Simon put down a few plates of food and they passed them around, taking what they wanted.

"I brought a cool tent my parents 'ave. It's 'uge on the inside. I was thinking we could sleep in it." Amiyah said whilst stuffing a load of mashed potatoes in her mouth.

Jayla smiled. "Sounds good."

"Remember, honey, I'm bringing you to the eye doctor's tomorrow." Carol said.

Pouting, she nodded. She had been having bad sight issues ever since exams. Simon joked that she had studied her eyes out.

Once dinner was over they spent the whole night in the tent talking in the tent. The tent had a nice glow. Most of the furniture was green and yellow and rather comfortable.

There was a lot of Amiyah punching 2D around. She never truly hurt him. Though, he would act like she did. Sometimes Jayla wondered if he did it just to make Amiyah feel better. Or maybe it was so she wouldn't hit him her harder.

She gave 2D cornrows which he loved for some reason. She gave Amiyah them as well but she didn't like them as much. "Ow…" Amiyah cried.

Jayla looked over at her and grunted. "Stop tugging at them…" She said, walking over to her friend. She undid the braids quickly. For the first time ever, Amiyah's hair looked curly. It was so soft as Jayla ran her fingers through it. "2D feel this." She gasped.

2D looked at Jayla with wide eyes. "She's gonna beat me!"

Amiyah looked at him and had a small smile on her lips. "You can feel it."

He crawled over from his position of sitting on a pillow. He ran his fingers through her hair. "Woah…"

"Don't get too sappy on me." Amiyah laughed.


	11. Chapter 11

She pushed her glasses up discontentedly. Amiyah and 2D were arguing about who had the bigger hands for the fifth time. They never seemed to get bored of arguing. "I'm going to the bathroom." She announced. No lapse in yelling.

Sighing, she walked out of the compartment. She walked down, trying to find the bathroom. Jayla was slightly annoyed, after spending four days with Amiyah and 2D. They fought and fought so much. Sometimes she couldn't squeeze in a word between there scuffles.

Not paying attention, she slammed into someone. "Oh god, sorry!" She exclaimed. Looking up, she saw Tristian Travert. "Oh…" She let out.

"Hi, Jayla." He mumbled, his head facing down but eyes looking at her. He hadn't changed much since the summer besides his hair had lightened and his skin was tanner.

"Hey, Tristian." She said.

"You got glasses."

"I did."

He looked uncomfortable but he wasn't moving. "How was your summer?" He asked.

"It was good. I spent some time over Amiyah's… Being in an adult wizard and witch household is weird." She told him. "How was your summer?" She asked. She didn't know why they were having this conversation but she didn't mind it. She had blown up at him for something she didn't even give him the chance to explain last year.

He licked his lips and looked to his left. She noticed his hair was much shorter. "I stayed with my family in France."

Her face changed into slight surprise. "Your family lives in France?"

"Yeah… I lived there until I was seven." He said.

"Wow… You don't have an accent." Jayla said.

He looked down. "It slips out sometimes."

"I used to live in America… if you can't tell…" She said.

He actually looked her in the eyes for the first time. "Why did you move?"

"I… I was adopted. My parents were deemed unstable since they got themselves into a lot of trouble. The adoption people said they were probably substance abusers." She spewed. She hadn't gotten into that much depth since… she didn't know when. Amiyah had never really asked much about it. She had told her once that she was adopted but she questioned her real parents' insanity back then. She had accepted the fact they were mad. It was interesting how the more time she spent at Hogwarts, the more she forgot them.

"What if your real parents were wizards?" He said.

All the air in her lungs disappeared. "Don't- Don't be pissing about with me, Tristian." She murmured warningly.

"I'm… I'm not…" He mumbled, looking down from her eyes again.

"You know what, you don't know rubbish about me or my family." She said, her voice low but strong.

"Jayla…" He said. She could hear the accent after he had pointed it out. She stopped and gave him a chance to explain. "I… I have a bad habit of blurting out what I observe… I don't want to offend you."

"Okay… Well… I have a bit of a habit of getting offended easily." She mumbled.

"Isn't this the perfect match?" He laughed sadly.

"Maybe like puzzle pieces." She said. He looked up at her and furrowed his eyebrows. She brushed passed him, finding her way to the bathroom.


	12. Chapter 12

"So are you on good terms with him or what?" 2D asked, looking at her as they sat in the library. Amiyah was at quidditch practice which left 2D and Jayla alone a lot.

"Who?" She mumbled back, picking up her quill from her parchment.

"Tristian." He said, flicking his head towards the blonde Ravenclaw.

She tilted her head. "What makes you say that?"

"You and him keep looking at each other." He pointed out.

"Oh… He said something to me on the train. It's been picking my brain ever since I guess…" She mumbled, beginning to write again.

"What'd he say?" 2D asked.

It was weird since she didn't talk to Amiyah about emotional stuff much. She wasn't really interested in talking about feelings and it always felt embarrassing to do so. 2D was soft and always there. Amiyah moved like molecules and 2D was constant like the ground beneath her.

"I don't know… it's…" She sighed, looking to the ceiling.

He placed his hand on her shoulder. Looking up, she was met with his faint-blue eyes. "You can talk to me, Jay. I know I don't seem like a touchy-feely person but I can be!" He told her.

She laughed lightly. "Thanks, 2D." Jayla mumbled.

Hearing a book close in the very quiet library made her look up. She saw Tristian packing up his stuff quickly. His eyes darted over to Jayla like he didn't want her to see. He shuffled out of the library quickly.

"What was that about?" Her friend asked.

"I dunno." She mumbled. Jayla realized that 2D's hand was still on her shoulder. Brushing his hand away, she laughed. "I told you about the time that I cooked for Simon and Carol…" She said.

"No, you haven't actually. Probably tasted like a horned slug." He teased.

She shoved his shoulder. "Don't be a knob."


	13. Chapter 13

"Okay, Jayla… your turn." Linda said, tossing a pumpkin pasty at her chest.

She picked it up and popped it in her mouth. "Dares are getting rather boring… and I have already dunked all my clothes in the bathtub so what about a truth…?" Jayla suggested.

"Boring! You consider yourself a Gryffindor?" Aisha yelled at her good-naturedly. The comment went straight to her heart. She played it off.

"Haha, well maybe _I_ have a craving for the unexpected." She retorted.

"Who do you like?" Angelina asked with her soft voice.

Her eyebrows flew down her face. "Am I supposed to like someone?"

"Well, yeah! I mean even Amiyah fancies someone…" Aisha said.

Ami looked up from stuffing a handful of jelly slugs in her mouth and shrugged. "I mean Luke Singh is pretty fit, what can I say?"

She looked at her friend, astonished. She thought back to Carol talking to her. Carol had said that Jayla would start liking boys a lot more. Though, she hadn't. "Ehm… I mean Liam Thompson is pretty nice." She let out, feeling like she had to. She had had a slight flourish in her heartbeat when she talked to him.

"Ooooohhh!" Angelina and Aisha chimed.

"Oh, shut up." Jayla muttered, blushing.

"I _dare_ you to go down to common room and tell Liam you like his quidditch moves." Aisha said in an odd tone of voice that sounded perverted.

"Not like that." Jayla chuckled as she got up. Angelina followed her, probably to vouch her success or failure.

She hopped down the stairs and looked for Liam. It was ten at night on a Saturday so most people were still awake. She saw him, sitting next to Luke Singh and Erik Lawrence. They were probably talking about the quidditch match of Hufflepuff vs Ravenclaw. That's all most people were talking about.

Not many times in her life did she feel nervous but that night she did. She couldn't tell if it was because she liked Liam or she just felt all kinds of pressures weighing on her.

"Hey, Liam." She spoke.

He looked up from Luke and smiled. "Hi, Jayla."

"I like your quidditch moves." She pushed herself to say.

Liam smiled at her. "Thanks."

Erik was hitting his chest and Luke was darting his eyes between them. Jayla's ears must've been bright red. She turned on her heel and strutted to her dorm. Angelina was snickering behind her.


	14. Chapter 14

"Okay, now that we're almost done with October, I think some final seating arrangements are in order." Professor Webb said.

The class groaned, including Jayla. She valued her time sitting next to Amiyah in potions. She always cussed under her breath as she panicked about her potion. They rarely turned out right. She had to admit that it was quite comical. Plus, this year, the class was with Ravenclaw.

There was this big rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin but in reality the two weren't _that_ different. They blended well once they got over the past.

The houses that really didn't mix was Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. Jayla's house was so destructive and acted rashly most of the time. Ravenclaw were creators and acted rationally. They clashed like fire and water.

Drea was nice but she was one of the few Ravenclaws who actually enjoyed a little spunk in her life of studying nonstop. There was another Ravenclaw in her year who was fun to be around named Latrisha but she rarely interacted with Jayla.

"Quiet down, students." Webb ordered.

People quieted down for the most part except for Willard Rowle, who was one of the rowdiest Gryffindors. "But I don't want to sit next to a book!" He complained.

"Oh _shut up_ , Willard!" Jayla found herself saying without thinking.

Everyone looked at her.

"I mean, Ravenclaws are more than just nerds just like we're more than idiots… well some of us…" Jayla continued, redness rising to her cheeks. Drea smiled at her.

"Well said…" Professor Webb said, cutting through the awkward silence. "Anyway, Nate Westerfield and Drea Zeti, you will sit here in the front row." She said, pointing at the first two seats.

She went on putting students in their seats. "What was that all about?" Amiyah asked under her breath.

"What? The Ravenclaw thing? Oh… well… Drea is a Ravenclaw and she's cool…" She made up. It was the truth but it wasn't what her initial thought was.

Before Amiyah could reply, Liam strolled over to her. "I like what you said… about the Ravenclaws." He told her.

She blushed. "Thanks, Liam."

He flashed her a smile. "No problem, Jay."

"Liam and Linda this table." Professor Webb ordered.

He nudged her gently before jogging off to the table.

"Oh my god! He called you _Jay_!" Amiyah squealed.

She rolled her eyes. "2D calls me Jay."

"That's different and you know it." Her friend said.

Angelina chimed in, "How does Jayla Thompson sound? I like it!"

Before Jayla could cause any harm to Angelina and her perfect face, Professor Webb said, "Jayla and Tristian.".

She looked over to the blonde Ravenclaw. He was looking back at her. His face was blank.

Jayla looked at Professor Webb who was gesturing to a table near the back. It took her a moment to move her feet. She sat down and Tristian was already there.

"Hey." She spoke once Webb had moved on.

"Hi." He mumbled.

She looked down at her book of parchment paper and opened it, just to have something to do. "What do you like to do for fun, Tristian?" She asked, trying to make conversation.

"I like to study." He muttered in monotone.

"Oh… that's nice…" She said.

"I was joking." He said, looking up. There was no trace of a smile on his lips. Although, when she looked in his eyes she saw it.

She let out a small laugh. "I like to do most things _but_ study… I probably should study more. I think my real problem is I don't know how to study exactly." Jayla said.

"I mean studying is okay once you figure out what works." He told her, fiddling with his parchment.

She licked her lips. "Maybe you could teach me how to sometime." Jayla suggested.

He looked up at her with furrowed eyebrows. "You're serious?" Tristian asked, his French accent coming out slightly.

She darted her eyes to the side. "Uh, yes."

"Oh… um… I could… if you'd want that… I mean it wouldn't be very fun." He uttered.

She rolled her eyes with a small smile. "Just because I'm a Gryffindor doesn't mean I need constant stimulation." Jayla said.

"I know." He mumbled. Tristian looked up at her again.

They were quiet for a moment.

"What is your middle name?"

"Theodora." She said.

He paused for a second. "Can I call you Theodora? You see, in the French language, there is no 'th' sound so it's hard for me to make that sound… so if you could let me practice with your name, I'd appreciate it." He explained.

She shrugged. "That's okay with me."

"Okay, Theodora." He whispered, an almost smile on his lips.

She smiled.


	15. Chapter 15

"I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do…" She groaned.

"I know… I can't believe she expects us to memorize all this…" Amiyah agreed, running her fingers through her hair. She glanced at her watch. "Damnit! I have to go to practice." She exclaimed, collecting her things.

"Have fun."

"I'll definitely be having more fun than you." She said, nodding her head to the Potions book and piles of parchment.

"Thanks." Jayla muttered sarcastically.

Ami flashed her a smile before jogging off.

She huffed in aguish. Pushing her glasses up, she tried to read the textbook but couldn't get the words to resonate. She looked around the library as if searching for something to help her. She wasn't really expecting to actually find anything but she did find some _one_.

"Tristian!" She whisper-yelled.

He looked up from his concentrated expression. She scooped up her pile of studying materials and jogged over to where he was sitting. She plopped her stuff down. "I'm going to take you up on that offer you made in potions." Jayla told him.

"What? Zee studying one?" He mumbled tiredly, French accent coming out strongly.

"Yes… I have no idea what to do for the exam tomorrow." She pouted.

"Zee one on the girding, hair-raising, and wiggenweld potions?" He asked.

"Exactly that one." She clarified.

He looked at the clock. "We have a few hours until dinner. I will be able to get you to memorize zese zings." He told her.

She raised an eyebrow. "Whatever you say, Tristian."

He almost smiled. He opened up her book and flipped to a page. Tristian began to talk. It was interesting, how when he talked of things he knew, he could make eye contact. It was the first time she really got a close look at his brown eyes. There was dark brown at the center that poured into the rest of his golden colored iris. She watched his lips as he talked. She found them interesting. They weren't chapped but were the same shade of pink valentine's sweets. Sometimes her lips got really red when they were chapped. I guess that was just his normal lip color. His cupid's bow had a perfect dip, she noticed.

"Theodora, repeat after me." He said.

She straightened up and broke herself from her daze on his facial features.

"What is the first ingredient you put in a wiggenweld potion?" He asked her crisply, staring into her eyes. It was Jayla who had trouble making eye contact.

"Rattail?" She suggested.

"No." He said. "Salamander blood-"

"Until it turns red!" She interrupted.

He did his signature almost smile. "Yes, that is correct. See, you know it… it's just in the back of your head." Tristian told her encouragingly.

She shrugged and looked at her lap, blushing. "I wish I could memorize things easily. You'd think that these glasses would come with smartness but apparently not." She chuckled.

"You're smart." He said.

"I don't know about that." She huffed.

"I think you are… and _I am_ a Ravenclaw." He joked.

She giggled. "Yeah, whatever."


	16. Chapter 16

It started to be a weekly thing. She'd show up to the library, where he'd always be and ask him for help. He'd always say yes.

She would only talk about it with 2D and rarely as well. 2D would look at her recent marks and say that he needed to invest in a Ravenclaw.

Even though she wasn't talking about Tristian to people, others were noticing. "Why do you sit in that dusty, old library with that weird Ravenclaw kid so much?" Aisha had asked.

Jayla felt livid. "He's not weird."

She put her hands up in defense. "I mean most Ravenclaws are and that's okay."

Still feeling like kicking her roommate in the throat, she turned away. "Do you ask him?"

"What?" Jayla said.

"Do you ask him to study with you?" She asked.

"I guess most times. Why?"

"I mean he always looks bored out of his mind." Aisha said, playing with her hair.

She furrowed her eyebrows. Jayla had always thought that he looked slightly less bored than usual when they studied. "What _are_ you trying to say, Aisha?" She said, standing from her bed. It was just the two of them in the dorm room.

"I don't know… maybe you should try doing something else with him…" Aisha suggested. "Something a lot less tiresome." She added, giving a snarky smile to her roommate.

Jayla collected her things and walked out of her dorm. She'd show Aisha! Tristian liked hanging out with her in the library… he had to.

She knew where he'd be in the afternoon of a Saturday, the library of course. She walked into the place that smelt overwhelmingly of old books and ink. Jayla spotted him sitting at a table alone, poured over a book. His hand was tightly knit into his wavy blonde hair as his eyes scanned the book.

Striding towards him, she tried to get her confidence back to normal. "Tristian." She said, sitting down next to him.

"Oh, hey." He said, wiping his eyes. He always looked so tired. There were always dark pink bags under his eyes.

"What're you doing?" She asked, looking at his book.

"Studying." He replied simply.

"For what?" She asked.

"Transfiguration." He said.

She internally groaned. The witch felt like she had to draw every answer out of him. Maybe Aisha was right; maybe he did find her boring. "Would you want to maybe go hang out somewhere else?" She asked, raising her eyebrows hopefully.

He turned pale. "I-I don't know… I have to go meet with my- friend." He stammered, getting his belongings together. He rushed out of the library. Tristian didn't have any friends.

She felt like someone had dropped a grand piano on her. Tristian didn't like being around her.


	17. Chapter 17

She stopped studying with Tristian. Jayla stopped trying to talk to him in potions. Without her constant effort at trying to get a conversation out of the boy, there was silence between them. They'd perform their duties at the cauldron and then go separate ways.

She felt sluggish as the next few months went by. She didn't feel like throwing snowballs at people or running around the castle. She only felt like sleeping and talking to her favorite portrait. Jayla always felt like she could talk to Professor Dumbledore about anything. Even if it was about friend problems. He gave her wise words about how certain people didn't know how to react in situations but the effect of slight hope they gave her would last as long as it took to eat a chocolate frog.

2D seemed to try to take care of her but she didn't know how to explain her problem to him. She barely came out of her dorm room so he couldn't exactly get to her at most times anyways.

Even Amiyah noticed. It surprised Jay that Ami would stay with her rather than do more fun things.

It was February when the silence was broken. She sat at the table in potions in the beginning of class. She could feel Tristian looking at her but she didn't react. He did that quite a bit.

"Why… Why aren't you talking to me anymore?" He asked.

She looked up from the desk. "What?"

He stopped looking at her. "Did I hurt your feelings?"

She looked down. "No." She muttered.

"I'm… sorry." He mumbled.

A few moments passed.

"I waited for you at the library." He told her.

"What?" She repeated.

"The next day- for the next month actually, I waited for you and you never came back. Or at least, you never came back and talked to me." Tristian sighed. She thought that he was always in the library, not that he waited for her.

She was so confused by him. "You didn't seem like you wanted to hang out with me."

"I… I'm not good at friends, okay?" He breathed, looking her in the eyes.

"Okay." She mumbled.

"I can't hang out with you outside of the library. I have my reasons, alright?" He said.

"Okay." She repeated.

Professor Webb started to lecture. She snuck a glance at Tristian and he seemed calm.


	18. Chapter 18

She sat on the couch behind the circle of students. They were playing a game that was being conducted by Mikio. Katashi was in the corner, watching disapprovingly. He looked like he was ready to split the game up if it got out of hand.

"Okay, here goes!" Mikio yelled, throwing an object that looked like a throwing star. It was red and there was a white heart printed in the center.

It hovered up into the air, high above everyone else. Two grappling hook looking ropes shot from two ends and grabbed two students. It pulled them up and tossed them into the broom closet in the back of the dorm.

"It worked!" Mikio shouted like an evil genius. Troye high-fived him.

"What is this?" Nate Westerfield asked.

"You know the muggle game 'Seven Minutes in Heaven'? It's like that but a lot less option on whether you're in the game or not." Troye explained.

"I got it from my uncle." Mikio grinned.

"This is _stupid_." Linda complained, rolling her eyes.

"You're _stupid_." Mikio retorted.

"Would you two stop flirting?" Amiyah teased.

Both of them got as red as the tapestries behind them. "I wouldn't touch Kimura with a ten foot pole!" Linda cried.

"I don't think I want to play this game…" Jayla muttered to Liam, collecting her things as the two Gryffindors who were thrown in the closet before emerged.

"Agreed." He laughed, beginning to get up.

The nija star looking object was spinning again. Just as she was two steps away from the couch, she was lurched into the air. One second she was scrambling to grab onto anything while floating in midair, the next she was being stuffed into somewhere dark. She reached around, trying to find a doorknob but instead touched something softer. A person. "What have I gotten into now…?" Jayla said in aguish.

"Jayla?" Liam's voice spoke.

 _'_ _Well, great._ ' Jayla thought.

"Hi, Liam." She mumbled.

"Erm, hey." He mumbled.

There were a few moments of silence.

"So… You wanna kiss or something?"

" _What_?" She breathed sharply. He had caught her completely off-guard.

"I'll take that as a no." He chuckled.

She thought of Liam. He was nice enough. Angelina and Aisha never shut up about their stupid first kisses. Jayla never had anything to say. What was the harm, really?

She reached out to touch where his face was. She must've poked his cheek.

" _Lumos_." She heard Liam say. She could see his kind face from the new light pouring from the tip of his wand. She quickly took her hand away.

"It's okay if you want to kiss me." She mumbled, blushing.

He looked slightly surprised. "Well… okay…" He mumbled, smiling a little. "Can I just- whenever?" He stammered awkwardly.

"Yeah." She replied, closing her eyes. She was pretty sure she was supposed to close her eyes.

She felt his lips against hers for a mere second before he snapped away. She opened her eyes. _That_ was what Angelina and Aisha were praising so much? It felt like nothing.

"Was that okay?" Liam asked her.

"What? Yeah." She said.

"Cool, cool…" He mumbled, shifting his weight.

They made eye contact and broke it quickly. She looked at her feet. Liam swooped in and kissed her cheek. She blushed.

The door clicked, meaning it was unlocked. Liam opened it, letting her pass first. She smiled at him before trying to walk calmly to Amiyah. She sat down next to her and Ami looked at her with a grin. She elbowed her. "What happened in there?"

"He kissed me." Jayla gushed.

"Oh my god!" Amiyah whisper-yelled. "How many times?!"

"Once on my lips and then on my cheek." She replied, blushing more. She glanced over at Liam who was being jostled by his friends.


	19. Chapter 19

Second year had gone a lot faster than her first year. She had really gotten the hang of the whole Hogwarts thing by the end of that year anyways.

She had a new found love for potions class and she wasn't sure if it was because she liked sitting next to Tristian or because she was becoming rather good at it. She didn't want to admit it was the first option.

Professor Dumbledore and her talked for hours the morning she was going to leave. She told him about how she wished there was a way she could bond with people from other houses (She didn't specifically say Tristian but she was pretty sure Dumbledore knew) and how she felt like houses should be united. He told her he agreed.

She also talked about Elizabeth and how she had put slugs in her book bag. Dumbledore told her to never be mean to her because Elizabeth was probably angry about something else. He said that even the most formidable people deserved to smile.

Jayla found it interesting that 2D and Amiyah barely fought on the way back. Things could certainly change in a year.


	20. Chapter 20

**_YEAR THREE_**

"Jayla!" Someone yelled.

She was being shaken. She rose like a vampire out of a coffin. Jayla felt like she had just been dunked in water. Her heart was racing as she looked around. Her rapid breathing slowed slightly. Amiyah was holding her shoulders. "Ami…?" She mumbled confusedly.

"Must've been some dream, huh?" She said, taking her hands from her shoulders.

Jayla took a minute to get herself together. She wiped the hair clinging to her forehead back into her ponytail. "Yeah…" She murmured.

Amiyah got up from Jayla's bed and started to get dressed.

She still felt in a daze as she too slipped on shorts and a t-shirt. She looked in the mirror and saw the mess that was her leather-brown hair. It was always a puffy, curly challenge. 2D (lovingly) said it looked like a bomb had gone off her head and her hair was the smoke.

She had hazel eyes that were a drastic change compared to her skin. She looked at the acne covering her skin and sighed. Her skin that was not littered with pimples was the same color as city beans. She had guessed that there was some Caucasian in her and some black. Her parents looked like her, half and half. She tried to remember her parents' eye color but struggled. She tried to concentrate on the memories but it seemed the more she tried to grasp them, the more they faded away.

She ran her fingers through her hair. Jayla felt strained. She had just had a concerning dream about an old man named Alastair. She remembered having a dream on her eleventh birthday about the same man. The thing that scared her the most was the scary man in the dream seemed to have been getting stronger. He looked younger.

Jayla walked to the bottom floor of the Kimura household. Katashi was helping his mother prepare breakfast. He had gotten a job at the ministry, something that had to do with magical sciences. He seemed to like it.

She sat at the table with Mikio and Amiyah. "How daft are you?" Amiyah cried.

He shushed her, his eyes shifting to his mother. "It's not that crazy. If I just-"

"What's your plan?" Jayla laughed.

He smirked at her. "Don't worry about it, Jay." He said, winking at her before getting up from the table.

Before she could question Mikio, Katashi was setting a plate in front of her. "Good morning, Jay." He said, smiling at her good-naturedly.

"Good morning." She greeted. "Thanks for the breakfast."

"No problem." He said, wiping his hand on a dish towel before sitting at the table with the two witches. "I like cooking over using magic. I don't know why… I find it fun I guess."

"That's cool." Jayla said, looking around her best friend's house. It was loaded with different magical items, ffrom the floating chandler to the mop that was moving on its own.

"You excited to go back to the ol' castle?" Katashi asked.

"Of course." Jayla said, smiling softly.

"I miss the place myself." He said, putting his hand over his heart. He stood up and ruffles both of the girls' hair. "You've both grown so much." He said, grinning down at them.

Amiyah swatted his hand away. "Oh, don't get sentimental on me." She muttered.

He chuckled before walking out of the room.

Amiyah's mother turned around from her position at the sink. There were plates being cleaned by themselves and the faucet was being turned on and off. "Okay, kids, we should get you to the Station soon." Mrs. Kimura said. She had a thick Japanese accent seeing as she had lived there up until she gave birth to Mikio. Then her and her husband had moved to London. She had a long face and thin eyes. Her eyes were dark brown and her hair was graying. She was tall for a woman and looked rather lanky.

The younger witches nodded before walking up a few flights of stairs to get to Amiyah's room. They grabbed their respective trunks before hauling them down. They put them down and waited for Mrs. Kimura's instruction. She opened the aqua vace next to the fire place and took out a small cup from it. Jayla had dealt with Floo Powder before and understood what to do. Amiyah went first since she had still done it many more times than Jayla. When Jayla went, the last thing she saw before emerging in a pub was Mikio rushing into the room.

The pub was for wizards only and was very close to Diagon Alley. Most wizards and witches used it to get within walking distance of King's Cross Station.

Amiyah was talking with Lucrecia and Drea when Jayla got out of the rather large fireplace. She rushed over and began to talk to them. Lucrecia's face dropped from a big smirk to uncomfortableness. Jayla looked to where she was and saw Elizabeth. She groaned and looked to the man who was holding her shoulder. He looked familiar…

Something hit her face with a _splat_. She looked up and saw Mikio and Troye laughing their arses off. She wiped the thick blue goo off her face, ready to storm over to the two dimwits but Mrs. Kimura was yelling for her and the rest of the Kimura students to come. She huffed before jogging after the woman.

They got to the platform and Mrs. Kimura gave all of them big hugs, including Jayla. Mikio tried to dodge the hug but it was unescapable.

They walked to the train and Jayla left to go to the bathroom that was on the train. She came back and couldn't find Amiyah anywhere. She sighed and got on the train, looking for a place to sit if not her friends.

As she was towards the end of the train, she was pulled back slightly. She groaned in frustration. Her hair was caught on a hook or something that was jutting out of the wall. Sighing, she wrestled with the lock of hair, trying to detach herself from the train.

"Need help?" She heard a voice ask.

She saw Elizabeth standing with her arms crossed and a smirk on her lips. "Oh, go away, Elizabeth."

"Oh but that would leave behind so much fun." She cackled in her posh British accent.

Jayla subtle rested her hand on where her wand was, not yet withdrawing it. "Now how about those little legs bend to bow to me, your superior." Elizabeth spit callously.

"Not to say that I would but, uh, I can't exactly move that far with my hair caught." Jayla dully said, rolling her eyes.

Elizabeth seemed brassed off, which she often did. " _Tarantallegra._ " She shouted at Jayla, pointing her wand at her legs.

Jayla's legs started to move uncontrollably. She realized she was, without her permission, Irish step dancing. Her hair was being relentlessly tugged at as her legs moved. She cried out in pain and clutched onto her hair.

Elizabeth called out another spell but it never hit Jayla. Someone was grabbing onto her shoulder, using it to move in front of her as the person fired a spell at Elizabeth. She landed halfway down the empty compartment on her arse. She looked shocked and scrambled to run out of the compartment.

Once the person undid the spell on her legs, she could concentrate enough to look at her savior. "Tristian?" She mumbled.

He nodded, his face painted with concerned. "Hold still." He told her, getting his fingers to where her hair was caught. His voices had dropped.

She was so surprised, she couldn't speak for a few moments. "Th-Thank you…" She uttered.

"It's nothing." He said, glancing over to her eyes. He bit his lip as he tried to get her hair from being caught. He was making the same expression as when he studied.

She had never gotten that close to Tristian. His slight freckles were prominent that close up. His eyes weren't one wash of brown anymore, they held an intricate design.

He began mumbling, breaking her from spacy staring. Though she couldn't understand what he was saying. After a few sentences, she realized he was saying something in French.

"What are you saying?" She asked softly. She felt like she couldn't raise her voice too high since he was so close to her.

He looked up at her with a confused expression before understanding. "I was just talking to myself in French… cussing mostly." He told her, getting his wand out. He put the tip of his wand on her hair. He looked at her as if asking for permission to do something. Without thinking, she nodded. He mumbled a spell and the hair unwrapped itself from the hook.

"Thank you." She said again.

"Don't worry about it." He replied.

They stood there for at least five seconds before Tristian looked around and took a step back. She had forgot how close they were.

They both didn't know what to say but neither of them made any attempt to leave. "I…" Jayla finally let out. "I couldn't find Amiyah and 2D, you think I could sit with you?" She asked.

His eyes widened slightly. "Uh, sure."

He led the way to his compartment that was basically empty except his trunk. She was going to ask where his friends were but decided against it. She sat down on one side of the compartment and he sat on the other.

For another moment they stared at each other. Tristian's hair was longer than it was in June. He was tan again and looked to be an inch taller than he was before. Though, Jayla had grown too, so she was still a few inches taller than him.

"How was your summer?" He asked.

"Good. I went to Italy." She told him. "Did you go to France?"

He nodded and proceeded rummage through his knapsack and took out a photo. He passed it to her and she took it into her hands. In the picture was Tristian and what she assumed to be his mother. She was gorgeous. She had long, curly, blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Her eyes looked kind and she looked down at Tristian lovingly as they stood in front of a French café.

"This is your mom?" She asked. He nodded again. "She's really pretty." She commented.

He took out a small notebook. "Come here." He told her, holding up the tiny book as if to signal he was going to show her its continents.

She got up and sat next to him. "My mom made me this." He told her. He began flipping through the pages. The bottom corner of every page had a drawing, making a small animation. It was of a wizard, shooting swirls out of his wand.

"That's cool." She smiled.

"My mom's an artist." He informed her.

"Is she a muggle?" Jay asked.

He nodded and looked down. "My father is too… he left after they found out about the wizard business."

"Oh…" She let out, surprised he would tell her such a thing.

He looked up at her. "It's okay… I have my mom and she's all I really need." He said with equal halves happy and sad. She could never understand how someone could be happy and sad at the same time but at that moment she did.

"That's good." She said, not having anything exceptional to say.

He almost smiled and looked out the window. "Yeah…"

There was quiet for a while. She yawned and combed her fingers through her hair. He looked at her. She noticed they were close again. "Are you tired?"

"Yeah." She replied, stretching her legs out. "I had a nightmare last night… I don't think it let me sleep right."

"You can sleep now, if you'd like." He told her, looking through his bag.

She waved him off while yawning. "You have a lot of books in there, huh?" She mentioned, pointing to his messenger bag.

He nodded. "I usually can't keep my mind still on one thing, so I jump from book to book." He explained.

She lifted her legs to be folded next to her in a 'v' shape. "What books do you have?"

He began to delve through his bag. " _Tails by Edith Nesbit_ , _Sally Kinson's Fairy Tales_ -" He started but was interrupted.

"I love _Sally Kinson's Fairy Tales_!" She cried.

He took out the blue bonded book. "It's definitely one of my favorites." He said, holding it to his chest and sighing dreamily.

She laughed and he smiled. There was no almost smile, it was a true spreading of lips. "You _smiled_!" She exclaimed, hitting his chest gently.

He blushed and looked at the book in his hands but continued to smile. "Yeah, I do that sometimes." He chuckled. He passed her the book and their fingers brushed. She felt red creep to her face. For Merlin's sake, she was thirteen! She couldn't help but feel something.

He cleared his throat and shifted his weight. She looked up and saw he was blushing. She took a deep breath as she turned the book over. Jayla ran her fingers over the imprinted summaries of the stories. She grinned as she got an idea.

Shoving the book into his chest, she looked up at him through her eyelashes. "Read it to me!" She pleaded.

He thumbed through the pages and smiled again. She swore the compartment brightened when he smiled. "If that's what you want." He said, turning to the first page.

"Yes, yes it is." She said.

He shrugged and flipped to the first page. " _There was two girls with violet eyes…_ " He began reading. She was automatically entranced. " _One lived in a beautiful palace with her parents. They were rich beyond any notion. But what they had in money they lacked in love. This girl's name was Delores. She took her parents traits. Whereas the other girl with violet eyes lived a different life. She had a small house in a poor village. Her parents' love covered any want for toys and dresses. Her name was Joy. She lived true to her name…_ " Tristian continued. Although Jayla had read the story countless times, the story sounded completely new.

His voice crackled a little as he talked since he was a teenaged boy. His voice was deeper than it was before the summer and she found it soothing even if it wasn't consistent in pitch. Very soothing…

"Theodora…" She heard a soft voice murmured.

She hadn't even realized she had closed her eyes. Jayla opened her eyes and saw Tristian looking down at her smiling. Light was shining behind him, making a halo around his head. She lifted her head up slightly and realized she had been leaning her head on his shoulder. She wiped her eyes and looked up at him with confusion. "You fell asleep on me…" He told her.

"I see…" She mumbled, sitting up and adjusting her glasses. "I apologize."

"Don't." He told her. "I only woke you up because we're going to be there in a few minutes."

She stretched out her arms. "Oh…"

There were a few beats of silence.

"So, what do you do when you're not studying, Mr. Ravenclaw?" She asked.

He smiled. "I play the bass."

Her eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yeah…" He said, tapping on a book. "My mom made me take piano lessons. My teacher was pretty cool and he let me fool around with his bass and I fell in love." Tristian told her, looking off into the distance wistfully.

"That's really cool." She said.

"Do you play any instruments?" He asked.

"I wish. Amiyah plays guitar and 2D plays piano." She shrugged.

"I could teach you sometime." He suggested.

"That'd be great." She said eagerly.

The train began to pull to a stop. Tristian looked slightly sad. Jayla got up from her seat and began to pick up her trunk. Tristian rose and helped her with the heavy object.

They ended up walking all the way to the carriages with each other. There wasn't silence the whole walk, instead there was conversation. She still didn't see Amiyah and 2D by the time they got there so she just rode in a carriage alone with Tristian.

They got up to castle and finally had to separate into red and blue.

She finally found Amiyah. "Where the bloody hell did you go?" She was greeted with.

"There's a lot that happened." She breathed, glancing over to the Ravenclaw table.


	21. Chapter 21

She hadn't talked to Tristian since the train ride. It saddened her but at the same time she understood. He was probably busy with his friends since he was barely in the library anymore.

She assumed that until she went Hogsmeade.

"Isn't this exciting?" 2D said, glancing around at the small village.

"If this is what you find exciting, I can see why you're a Hufflepuff." Amiyah scoffed.

Jayla looked over at her friends and knew that they'd be on about that for another hour. She tuned them out and saw someone she wasn't exactly expecting.

Tristian was leaning against a wall, messing with something shinny. She couldn't help but wander over to him. "Where is she off to?" She heard 2D say behind her.

"Who knows?" Amiyah muttered in response.

"Tristian." She said, making him look up from the piece of metal he was messing with.

"Theodora." He replied, nodding his head.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I was just going to Tomes and Scrolls." He told her, lifting up a shopping bag.

She had forgotten there was even a bookstore in Hogsmeade. "Where are your friends?" She asked without thinking.

His face dropped. He kicked off the wall. "I don't have any friends." He said, looking down.

"I-I…" She uttered in absolute horror.

"Don't worry about it, Theodora." He said before rushing away from her.

"Wait!" She called. He didn't listen.

She slammed her hand against the wall in frustration. She felt 2D put his hand on her shoulder. Jayla kicked the wall and stormed off angrily. Why was she always messing everything up?


	22. Chapter 22

She took the package in and examined it. She sighed and looked to the ceiling. Jayla began to write on a clean piece of parchment. She glanced to the bin near her desk. At least fifteen pieces of crumpled up parchment littered the trash's area.

When she finally felt somewhat satisfied with what she had written, she sealed it with a kitten sticker. She wrote the address on the front of the envelope. She wrapped the whole thing in dark blue wrapping paper. She tied a green ribbon around it and fiddled with the decorations until it was perfect. Jayla put the letter on the top and took a deep breath.

Amiyah came in. "You okay?" She asked.

Jayla looked up and nodded. She swallowed dryly before getting up and walking towards the door. "Uh… Jayla?" Her roommate said.

"What?" She replied.

"You're not wearing any shoes." Ami pointed out.

Jayla looked down. "Right." She mumbled, slipping on some sneakers. She sent a smile Amiyah's way before jogging down the stairs.

She was so focused on her concerns for the gift that she bumped into someone. "Sorry." She mumbled, not looking at the person.

"Jay, what's up?" Liam's voice said, making her stop.

She looked up at him and smiled, tucking some hair behind her ears. The witch knew she looked _really_ bad. She hadn't slept at all the night prior. "Nothing much. Just going to the owlry to ship this." She said, holding up the present.

He looked down at the box. "Nice. I'll walk you there if you want." He offered.

"Uh, sure." She let out quickly.

They began to walk together. Liam talked about quidditch mostly. He was a chaser, definitely the best third year on the team.

Liam watched her put the package on the owl. "You're beautiful." He told her.

She almost dropped the package. "What?"

"You're beautiful." He repeated, helping her secure the package to the owl.

"Thanks." She mumbled.

He looked towards the ground. "I really like you, Jay."

Her eyes widened as she looked at Liam. Jayla had been so concentrated on everything else, she had almost forgotten about her crush. But when her heart started to do the familiar rapid beating, she felt it all come back. "I like you, too." She told him.

He smiled and crinkles appeared next to his eyes. "Do you… Do you want to maybe be my girlfriend?" He asked softly.

Her eyes widened. "Yeah." She uttered.

Grinning, he kissed her cheek before running off. She touched her cheek and smiled.

Jayla Theodora Wynwood had a _boyfriend_.


	23. Chapter 23

For Jayla, the first week after he asked her out, was spent under Liam's arm. They walked around school like that, no matter how inconvenient it was. He would kiss her right on the lips before every class started. It was pretty exciting.

"Bye, Li." She said after he kissed her on the second week of December.

"Bye, Jay." He said before striding to his table with Luke Singh.

Amiyah was smirking. "You two have got it bad, huh?" She said.

"What? No…" Jayla replied, not exactly knowing what Amiyah meant but not liking her tone.

"Oh come on, Jay, you two are all over each other." Amiyah said.

"Honeymoon era." Aisha snickered as she walked by the two witches. Jayla rolled her eyes before glancing over to Liam.

"How's his snogging?" Amiyah asked.

"What?" She said for what felt like the millionth time.

Amiyah raised an eyebrow. "You guys spend so much time together, I just assumed you've snogged." She shrugged.

"Well… I would've told you, of course." Jayla chuckled.

Her friend laughed. "'Course."

The lesson began and she couldn't focus. Was Liam expecting her to snog him?

When she thought about it, she couldn't remember a time when Liam was the one to pull away.

"Okay, students, have a good holiday." Professor Gurerra said.

She got up, packing her things. "I'll leave you with Liam." Amiyah said, winking.

Jayla wanted to tell her not to leave her side for the rest of the day but she swallowed her words. She nodded and faked a smile. Why was she so nervous?

Liam walked over to her and slipped his hand in hers. She gripped his fingers back. He smiled at her and pecked her cheek. "You excited for the party tonight?" He asked her.

"Yeah, I am." She told him, walking with him through the hall. They talked about miscellaneous things until Jayla realized she had no idea why Liam was leading her in the direction he was. "Eh, Li, where are we going?" She questioned.

"I thought we could go to the quad to spend some quiet time together. I mean, I am a Gryffindor and everything but sometimes the common room gets a little crazy." He said.

She chuckled. "Yeah, especially with Mikio and Troye."

"I still can't believe Mikio threw a dungbomb at me when we were kissing." Liam exclaimed. Jayla laughed and leaned her body into her boyfriend's. They got out to the quad and sat on the only bench that wasn't covered in snow.

A thick silence grew between them. She was looking at her Mary Jane shoes.

Liam cupped her cheek and drew her into a kiss. She kissed him back and tried to not fear what was happening. He slipped his tongue into her mouth and she tried not to wrinkle up her face. He was basically just slobbering on her face. She could hear the sounds of the kiss and they _definitely_ weren't romantic.

She heard an altercation and looked over to source. Liam touched her thigh, trying to get her attention but she was already standing up.

Elizabeth Yaxley, Rosemarie Flint, Ansley Carrow, and Wayne Rosier were yelling insults at someone.

She automatically recognized the blonde hair that belonged to a twitching body. Tristian. Sprinting over, she threw herself over the body instinctively… more like foolishly. After someone threw the same jinx on her, she felt her body shaking uncontrollably. "Look at the mudbloods! Down where they belong." Rosemarie spit.

"St-Stop!" Tristian protested, trying to flip their bodies over. They started using curses to make slashes in Jayla's skin. She yelped.

Sense came to Jayla as her _nearly_ uncontrollable hand found its way to where her pocket where her wand was. She finally got her wand out and yelled, " _Expelliarmus_!".

Though the attackers were far away, Tristian and Jayla were still just shaking on the ground. " _Finite Incantatem_." Someone said and the twitching stopped.

She looked up and saw Liam standing over the two. He helped her up and looked at her with eyebrows knit in concern. "Are you okay, Jay?" He asked.

"Yeah, yeah…" She mumbled, quickly helping Tristian up. He looked severely unwell.

"What the bloody hell…?" She heard Wayne say. Looking over she saw the lot of them sitting on the ground.

"How the… How did she do that while under that charm?!" Rosemarie exclaimed.

She looked at them and would've smirked if she wasn't so worried. "The spell casting is only as good as the caster, you slimy git." She remarked though she knew it probably wasn't true.

She threw Tristian's arm over her shoulder and helped him walk. Liam followed next to her, swarming her with questions. "Your face, Jayla!" Liam tried to say. She waved him off.

Once she got to the hospital wing, she felt herself relax slightly. The gashes on her face stung profusely. "Ah, jeeze." She squeaked, clutching her face as the adrenalin left her.

She felt Tristian be taken out of her grasp. She stumbled backwards and Liam caught her. "Oh my god, Jayla…" He mumbled, helping her to sit on a bed. Liam cupped her cheek that was not bleeding and looked into her eyes. "Are you okay?"

She felt like she had just been woken up. "Oh…" She let out, reaching up to touch her wound.

Liam grabbed her hand before she could. "Don't touch that." He instructed.

Her vision was going blurry. "Aw, god…" She whimpered. Her eyes didn't create graceful rivers. They were gushing waterfalls. Liam wrapped his arms around her and she hid her face in his neck. He stroked the back of her head but it obviously didn't do much to assuage her.

"Okay, okay, let me work." Madam Pomfrey ordered.

Liam got up and watched with worry as Madam Pomfrey started to rub different gels on her face. "Now, there wasn't a nausea charm casted you, correct?" She asked, looking down at her with her wise, light-blue eyes.

"No." She let out curtly.

She nodded and scraped some of the paste off her face. She added a different blue-green jelly that stung. "Okay, you should be fine in a few hours… this is good with some rest so please, try to relax… oh and the substance I put on your face will start to burn in a few minutes." She instructed.

Jayla let out a dumb 'okay' before lounging on the bed. Madam Pomfrey rushed away.

Liam pushed hair from her face before holding one of her hands in both of his. His eyebrows were drawn together so tightly that Jayla worried they would fall off. "I'm fine." She assured him.

"Jay, I swear, I'll get 'em back, I swear." He told her.

She waved him off. "Amiyah will probably get them first." Jayla chuckled. She almost assumed that someone had casted a fireball at her face from the burning sensation on her cheek. "Bloody hell!" She yelled out.

He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Jeez, it really blows seeing you like this." He mumbled.

She glared up at him. "Sounds pitiful." Jayla muttered.

Her boyfriend smiled sadly. "Sorry."

"It's alright." She said, leaning back. "Could you get Amiyah and 2D?"

"Of course." He told her, kissing her forehead. He got up and jogged out of the hospital wing.

Slumping against the pillow on her bed, she closed her eyes.

Silence filled the room for a moment. Her muscles became less tense.

"Are you okay, Theodora?" Tristian's voice called. The name brought back memories of the year before.

She opened her eyes again and looked for him. "Tristian…" She breathed, beginning to get up.

"Stay in your bed." He ordered.

Ignoring him, she got up and stood by him. He almost smiled as he shook his head from his positon on his bed. "Theodora…" He mumbled, touching her forearm. "You don't seem to like to listen." He chuckled.

She looked down to where he was holding her forearm. He slipped his hand away upon her notice. "So I've been told." She said, smiling. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you, by the way for everything. And, please, thank your boyfriend for me." Tristian said. She nodded and looked at Tristian's hand. There was a mole on his wrist bone. "Are you alright?" He asked, breaking her from her thoughts.

The fire on her face was dying down. "I'm fine. I bounce back quickly."

"That's good." He told her, smiling sadly at her.

"They're daft, Tristian. Don't listen to anything they say about muggle-borns. I mean, most muggle-borns are great." She assured him.

He smiled at her. "Like you."

She blushed and looked at her hands. "Of course."

Lazily glancing at her bed, he told her, "You should probably get back in bed."

"No way." She replied, grinning. Jayla looked to the small table next to his bed and spotted a deck of cards. "We're going to play cards." She told him, sitting on the bed next to him.

"I suppose I don't have a choice, hm?" He said.

"No, you don't." She said, shuffling the deck.

They played a simple game of trash. She had to teach Tristian how to play but he obviously picked it up quickly and beat her. Before they could start their third round, Amiyah and 2D were rushing in with Liam trailing behind them shortly. "I can't believe the knobs thought they could mess with _my_ Jayla." Amiyah was exclaiming. 2D looked a nervous wreck.

Upon seeing Jayla and Tristian calmly playing a game of cards. Well, calmly until Tristian won and she groaned. "How'd you do that?" She whined. He just smiled and shrugged.

"I thought you got beat up?" Amiyah said, looking at her dumbfounded.

"Madam Pomfrey is ace." Jayla shrugged, reshuffling the deck.

"You're okay?" 2D asked.

"Yeah." She shrugged.

"Bloody hell…" 2D muttered, throwing his hands up. "You know I have asthma! I could've died running here!"

"Sorry. I do appreciate it, though." She replied.

"This American's gonna kill me, I swear." 2D grumbled to Amiyah before sitting next to Jayla.

"She barely is anymore, huh?" Amiyah said, sitting on the other side of her.

"What do you mean?" Jayla asked.

"I mean, you picked up the accent the first year you were here, I would say." Amiyah explained.

"I agree." Liam said, nodding.

Jayla's eyebrows furrowed. "I'm _still_ American." She insisted.

"Okay, if it means so much to you." Ami said, throwing her hands up in defense.

She looked at her hands. She grew up in America. For blinking sake, it was where her parents were from. Getting up, she cleaned up the cards. "I want to rest." She told her visitors.

They were all looking at her like she was throwing furniture around. "I never meant to make you upset-" Amiyah started.

"You haven't." Jayla snapped. "I just want to sleep."

The three looked at each other. "Uh… I'll see you later." Liam said, beginning to walk away.

"Bye…" Amiyah said, sounding confused. She jogged out of the wing.

2D lingered for a few moments. "You're still going to come to the Gryffindor party tonight, right?" He asked. "I've gotten permission to come."

She had simmered down slightly. "Yes, 2D."

"Okay, Jay… I'll see you then." He said before walking towards the door.

Tristian watched her as she tried to stuff all the cards into the box. She was trying so hard to cram them in that they weren't fitting in the box properly. She became frustrated and shoved the cards towards the box. They hit just in the wrong way and flew everywhere. "Dammit!" She exclaimed.

Tristian got up and picked the cards up from the ground. She began to descend to squat next to him but he held up a finger, telling her to wait. She sat back down on the bed. He stood up with all the cards in his hands. He poked at the sides of the deck so that the ones poking out would go neatly into the pile. "Why did it upset you when they said you weren't American?" He asked, sitting next to her.

"I'm from America." She muttered.

He looked at her and moved some of his hair out of his eyes. "Is that really all?"

"No." She answered in a sigh, looking away from him.

"Why is it that you wish to still be considered American?" He asked whilst making sure all the cards were facing the right way.

Their shoulders were touching. "I spent barely one year from my parents in America after being separated from my parents. Every memory I have of my parents is in America… not that I have many left." She whispered.

He stopped flipping the cards and looked at her. "Why?"

She felt her eyes sting. "I don't know. It's becoming harder and harder for myself to remember them." She mumbled.

There was a moment of silence. Tristian got up and Jayla could see the gears moving in his head. He looked around the room before spotting something of interest. He walked towards a corner of the wing. He turned back towards her. "Come here."

She got up and followed him. He was standing in front of a mirror. She looked into the mirror, gazing at Tristian. His hair was longer than it was at the beginning of the year. It was almost brushing his eyebrows. He really did have a beautiful face.

"Theodora, look at yourself." He murmured, blushing.

Her cheeks were florid as she shifted her eyes away from him. Jayla looked at her own hazel eyes. They were slightly greener than usual.

He stood behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. "People say I look just like my mother. All her friends at least… It makes my mom's boyfriends uncomfortable." He told her with a small smirk. She chuckled a little. "Look at yourself and see if you can pick up on any traces of your parents." He instructed.

She closed her eyes tightly, trying to remember what they looked like. She opened them again and picked out the shape of her eyes, the same as her mother's. Her lips had the same thickness as her father's did. Her eyebrows had the same shape as her father's as well. Her nose turned upward slightly, just like what she could vaguely pick out from her memories of her mother.

"Theodora…" He said.

"Yeah?" She said, looking away from herself and at him instead.

"Do you remember the plant we talked about the first time we talked in first year?" He asked.

"Puffapods." She breathed instantly. "They bloom when they touch solid objects."

He smiled a little before continuing. "What was the uniform for your first muggle school?" He asked next.

"A blue tie and a blue plaid skirt." She replied, running her fingers over her collar and skirt as she recalled the memory. "It was a private school."

He tilted his head. "You don't seem have a problem with long term memory."

She shrugged and frowned. "I don't know how they could've just slipped from my mind."

"Maybe someone doesn't want you to know who they were…" He said. "What was your name before Wynwood?" He asked.

She furrowed her eyebrows. The more she scoured her mind the less she could pull anything up. "I-I have memories of writing it in second grade but I can't… picture it." Jayla mumbled.

He raised an eyebrow. "I don't think it is your fault you don't remember."

"You're suggesting someone removed it from my mind?" She asked.

He shrugged his shoulders while rolling up his sleeves. He put his hands in his pockets. "Possibly."

She ran her fingers through her curly hair. It would've made sense. Every time she thought of her parents, everything seemed blurry.

"The real thing you need to think about is… why would anyone want to?" He said, looking up at her with his light brown eyes.

"I-I don't know." She said.

He wandered off towards the beds. He went to his and picked up his dark blue coat. He put it on and Jayla walked over. "Where are you going?" She asked.

"I've healed." He mumbled.

She bit her lip. "Do you want to come to the Gryffindor party tonight?" She proposed.

He looked up at her with an eyebrow raised. "Do I look like the party type, Theodora?"

She smiled a little. "Yes."

He chuckled a little. "I don't mix well with Gryffindors… who aren't you, I guess."

Crossing her arms, she frowned. "I want you to go." Jayla said.

He looked at her and then towards the window. "We'll see."

Smiling smugly, she watched him walk out.

A few hours later, she was staring at the portrait hole. "Jay!" Someone exclaimed. She looked up and saw 2D. She smiled. His usually messy hair was an even worse catastrophe since he had tried to gel it but had messed it up not more than an hour later. He had been drinking a lot of firewhisky which had made his eyes hooded. "This song is _amazing_." He told her, slumping next to her.

"You hate this song." She said from under Liam's arm. He wasn't paying attention, talking to Luke Singh.

"When sober, my sweet Jay…la." He said, being interrupted by a hiccup.

She laughed and shook her head. "Someone needs to keep the drinks away from you."

He bit his lip before laughing loudly. He began talking about how Angelina had pretty hair before he stopped abruptly. "Hey… are you okay? You were really pissed off about the whole American thing earlier." He mentioned, sounding slightly less smashed.

"Ah, yes, I'm okay. I talked about it with Tristian, actually." She said.

He raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

She nodded. "Yeah… He's a rather good listener."

"He better not take my job as _your_ listener, though." 2D said warningly, making her laugh. "I really don't have much else going for me besides being your touchy-feely friend!" He exclaimed, getting up.

"Oh, that's not true!" She called after him

He shrugged with a smile before running off into the party again.

Her laughter died down and she started to look to the door again. Liam squeezed her shoulder and she looked over. "Yeah?" She said, still sounding like she was in a daze.

Liam kissed her and she was caught slightly off guard. She kissed him back. Though, she wasn't really paying attention to the snog. She opened her eyes and continued to look at portrait hole. When Liam was finally done playing vacuum cleaner with her mouth, she pretended like she had just been blown away as she tried to subtly wipe the slobber off her lips.

She saw a blonde walk through the portrait hole and automatically stood. The nervous expression gave away who it was. "Tristian!" She called out.

He looked towards her and almost smiled. He sped walked over to her before sitting down on the armchair next to her. "Hey, Theodora." He said.

"Is he calling you Theodora?" Liam asked, raising an eyebrow. "What's that mean?"

"Yes, Liam… it's my middle name." Jayla said, almost rolling her eyes.

"Right… right." Liam said, clearing his throat. There was an awkward moment of silence before he got up and walked over to Erik.

"I'm glad you came." Jayla said. She noticed Tristian had pushed his wavy hair up slightly with gel. She liked it.

"I'm glad you're happy…" He mumbled, tensely looking around the room.

She touched his knee. "There's no need to be nervous. No one's going to hurt you- well except Mikio or Troye but that's not the point." Jayla assured him.

"Calming, really." He remarked sarcastically.

She shrugged before, pouring him a drink. "It's the Gryffindor life."

He chuckled a little. "I guess there's a reason I'm in Ravenclaw."

She offered him the drink she had just poured. "You like firewiskey?"

"No actually. I don't like to drink myself." Tristian said.

"Oh…" She let out, shrugging. Jayla drank it instead. "Did the hat ever debate on your house?" Jayla asked.

"A little." He shrugged.

She raised an eyebrow. "How?"

"Well… basically said I could've been in Hufflepuff but then said I was too unhappy." He sighed.

She looked down at his knees. "Oh…"

"Yeah… I mean, I don't think I would've done well there anyways. Too much socialization." He muttered.

"Well… maybe in another universe, me and you would've been in Hufflepuff." She said.

"Maybe…" He said, smiling a little.

"Do you like your house?" The witch asked.

"I guess so. I mean our common room is good. There's a lot of books there. It's mostly quiet. Though, a lot of times there's a slight ruckus when people fall down the stairs." He said.

"Why do people fall down the stairs?" She questioned, furrowing her eyebrows.

"They read while walking down the stairs and then they fall… your friend Drea does it the most." Tristian said.

She laughed harder than she had in a while. "Ravenclaws are hilarious creatures." She remarked.

He chuckled a little. "I assumed you don't have people falling down the stairs that often here- at least for the same reason." He said.

"Sometimes Troye and Mikio leave trip wires." She shrugged.

"We're from different worlds, huh?" He said.

"It's just houses." She disagreed.

"I guess so." He said, getting up.

"Why are you always trying to leave?" She said, getting up with a distraught look on her face.

He looked towards a wall to his right. "I need to get back to my dorm. I have to make the train tomorrow." He said.

She knew it wasn't the real reason he wanted to leave but she let him, knowing he was but a wave, she couldn't hold onto him or control him. He came and left when he pleased.


	24. Chapter 24

_Dear Jayla,_

 _Merry Christmas! I hope you're having fun at Hogwarts. I hope you like the sparkly ink I got you. You said blue was your favorite color so I thought you would enjoy it._

 _I miss you loads and I can't wait until I see you again._

 _Love,_

 _Liam Thompson_

 _Dear Jayla,_

 _I think Mikio is going to kill me soon. Send help._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Ami_

 _Dearest Jayla,_

 _Would you mind sending me the dungbomb I left in the common room before break? Don't tell Amiyah._

 _Xo,_

 _Mikio_

 _Dear Jayla,_

 _Merry Christmas! We're hoping this letter gets to you. We miss you! We hope you're getting studying in whilst on holiday. We sent you a Christmas gift but we were unsure how exactly to mail it to Hogwarts. We think we figured it out. Either way, someone's going to be very happy with a pretty hefty book._

 _Best regards,_

 _Simon and Carol_

 _Dear Theodora,_

 _Thank you so much for the gift. I was not expecting it so I did not send you one back. I would like to tell you that I appreciated it more than you would know. Your letter was heartwarming. As soon as I get back from holiday, we can go out to the Three Broomsticks as you mentioned. I honestly, until this point, didn't think you considered us friends. I thought you were just friendly. I am slightly less afraid to hang out with you now. I will try to not to let the nervous side get the best of me. I really do enjoy your company, Theodora._

 _I hope your Christmas is going well. Hogwarts is always beautiful during the winter time. I heard Thomas was staying too. I hope for his sake that his brother isn't._

 _Sincerely yours,_

 _Tristian T._


	25. Chapter 25

Jayla tapped her foot almost as fast as her heart was beating. "Jeez, Jayla, calm down." 2D breathed.

She smiled apprehensively. "Sorry."

"I hope this kid can adjust to me… for his sake and yours." Amiyah said, eying her friend.

Jayla looked at her hands. She had told 2D and Amiyah that she had wanted to get Tristian into their small friend group. 2D was instantly okay with it. Amiyah didn't exactly get it.

"He's here." 2D announced.

Jayla looked towards the door and saw Tristian. He was obviously wearing his muggle clothing since they were in Hogsmeade. He wore all black except for his gray beanie and Ravenclaw scarf. He saw her and rushed over, sitting next to her. Amiyah and 2D just stared at him. He looked at them but quickly looked down.

Jayla cleared her throat. "This is Tristian."

He peered up at her friends. "Hey, Thomas. Hey, Amiyah." He uttered.

"You can call me 2D." Jayla's best guy friend said.

"Oh, okay." Tristian mumbled.

"What do you like to do?" Amiyah asked.

"Um… I study and I play the bass." Tristian answered, rubbing his palms on his jeans. Jayla tried to give him a reassuring look but Tristian still looked like he wanted to vomit.

"You play the bass?! I play guitar!" Amiyah exclaimed.

Tristian smile a small smile. "Jayla told me."

"I play keyboard." 2D mentioned.

"Did you bring your bass to school?" Amiyah asked.

He nodded. "I basically bring it everywhere."

"I brought my guitar but this twit forgot his keyboard." She complained, jabbing her thumb in 2D's direction.

He rolled his eyes. "It's not like you use it a lot anyways, you daft cauldron-head." 2D retorted. They quickly started a long argument about something that was barely related to music.

"I thought all of you were friends?" Tristian said.

"We are… they just argue a lot." Jayla shrugged. "Usually, I have no one to talk to whilst they are, so… it's nice to have you around." She told him.

He smiled.


	26. Chapter 26

Snow poured down from the sky. The snowy weather had gone for a sojourn but came back for its final strike with a foot of snow.

"Shouldn't the snow be done by now?!" Linda exclaimed while slumping onto a couch in the common room.

Angelina looked out the window before groaning. "I want to get _out_."

"There's always Hogsmeade." Jayla tried to say hopefully. Honestly, she was also tiring of the weather. It was so cold that going to Hogsmeade was basically worthless if you didn't want to end up in Hospital Wing.

She glanced towards the door, deciding she'd go to library to study. She collected her books and notes, beginning to stuff them into her bag.

"Jayla." A voice said.

Looking up, she saw her boyfriend. She smiled at him and he sat down. "What's up, Li?" She asked.

He bit his lip as he looked at her. "I… I think we need to talk." He said. If it were a few weeks prior, her stomach would've dropped to the floor. By then, her feelings for Liam had become deluded. What could Jayla have said? The constant unskillful snogging and baron conversation was enough for _anyone_ to get bored.

"Oh?" She replied.

"I think…" He began, looking to make sure Linda and Angelina weren't paying attention before continuing. "We should break up."

She had to admit, she felt a little part of her break. Jayla couldn't say she didn't _like_ being with Liam. He'd hold her close and be nice to her. It was lovely.

Why was Liam bored of her? The untalented snogging didn't seem to bother him since he kept coming back any time he could. Was it the new way she wore her hair? Was she suddenly unattractive?

She felt her eyes getting watery. "Okay." She uttered before getting up. She walked, trying to look calm before dashing down the hall as soon as she got out the portrait hole.

Jayla ended up finding herself at the Hufflepuff common room entrance. She ended up asking Rhea Bhatt, a nice Hufflepuff in her year, to get 2D for her. Rhea didn't exactly have a choice since Jayla was a sobbing mess.

2D came out and his eyes widened when he saw her. He quickly led her to a tapestry. Going behind it to a small cave, he sat her down. "What happened, Jay?" He asked.

She wiped roughly at her eyes. "Liam broke up with m-me." She cried, throwing her arms around his shoulders.

He hugged her and gently patted her back. "Er… I thought you were getting tired of him?"

"I miss him!" She sobbed, not exactly responding to his last statement.

"Oi…" 2D let out before gently stroking his friend's hair. "It's okay, Jay… He was a bad snogger anyways, yeah?"

"Y-Yeah." She said but still cried into 2D's robes.

"Hey…" He said, pulling away to look into her hazel eyes. His eyes were such a light blue, it looked like someone had sucked the color out of them and used it on his hair instead. "There'll be other boys, yeah? No need to feel gutted." He said, his lisp prominent.

She nodded slightly, rubbing at her somewhat snotty nose. She sat down against the cold wall, looking up into the dark abyss of the top of the cave. 2D slid to sit next to her before throwing an arm around her. She cried into his shoulder. He let her. She was happy she had 2D.


	27. Chapter 27

The weather was beginning to warm considering it was May. It couldn't have come a minute later since Troye and Mikio had resorted to sticking instant 'temporary' tattoos onto people. They lasted at least three months and didn't say the most appropriate things on them.

Most times during May, Jayla was hanging out with Tristian. It was nice to have a person to wander off with when Amiyah and 2D fought. It was weird to think that people so different could still be friends. Especially with them calling each other 'daft cow' so frequently.

It was one of those days when Tristian and her were just sitting in one of the courtyards. Amiyah and 2D were on a different bench, arguing on who was the best Quidditch player on some Brazilian team. It was an odd thing to argue about since 2D didn't know a thing about Quidditch.

"Exams are coming up. Do you want to help me study?" Jayla asked lazily as they lounged.

"Yeah." He said, looking towards his bag.

"Want to read me another story… like on the first day?" She asked.

"If that's what you want." He said, smiling as he continued to search through his bag.

Jayla looked away from her blonde friend, just taking in her surroundings. She saw Elizabeth and groaned. She noticed that her first instinct when she saw her was to insult her. It made sense because that was all Elizabeth did when she saw Jayla. She couldn't even count how many times she had been called 'monstrous swine' by Elizabeth Yaxley.

Though, when Elizabeth began to walk in her direction, talking with Wayne Rosier, she couldn't help of think of something Dumbledore had said to her once.

He had peered down at her from his place on the wall and smiled. "Even the most heartless of people deserve to smile. A little kindness could go a long way."

As Elizabeth walked by, Jayla blurted. "Your hair is pretty, Elizabeth."

She looked caught off-guard. " _What_ , Wynwood?" She said. Elizabeth was so surprised that she couldn't even put hostility in her voice.

"Your hair is pretty." Jayla repeated, adding a sincere smile.

Elizabeth looked like she was trying to fight a smile as she ran her fingers through her hair. "The muggle-born isn't wrong." Wayne said, winking at Elizabeth before swaying away.

She was blushing. Elizabeth Yaxley was blushing. "Thanks…" She let out before beginning to speed walk in another direction.

Amiyah and 2D were looking at Jayla with jaws on the ground. "What the blinking hell was that about?" Ami exclaimed.

She took a deep breath before saying, "Even arseholes deserve to smile."

Looking over at Tristian, she saw him smiling proudly. At least he got it.


	28. Chapter 28

The term was coming to an end. She was going to have to head back to the Wynwoods for summer holiday. Of course, she'd have Amiyah and 2D visit but she was unsure if she'd see Tristian at all during holiday. He was going to be in France but said sometimes they shot back home for a week or two when his mother's family got a bit much. He said they were a bit embracive and hyper-critical. He told her that he liked France to an _extent_.

She spent her last day as a Hogwarts third year talking to Dumbledore as always. She talked a lot about how the houses really separated the students and she wished there was a common room where everyone could meet.

Jayla felt sad as she walked back to her room. She wished she could've had Dumbledore as a headmaster. Sure, Professor McGonagall was brilliant but she had a deep connection with the former headmaster.

After getting dressed, she walked down the Great Hall. Every last day she had had was spent the same way, saying goodbye to Dumbledore before going to the Great Hall to spend some time with 2D.

Although, this was slightly different considering Tristian was thrown into the mix this time. 2D and him were sitting next to each other when she got down there with Amiyah. 2D was smiling his inviting grin at Tristian but the Ravenclaw still seemed uncomfortable.

Jayla sat next to Tristian and peered at the closed book he had in front of him. "Don't suppose you'd read to me again, would you?" She said, raising an eyebrow with a small smile.

He smiled as he looked down. "If it's what you want."

"Oh, please, you two are not going to read on the train home." Amiyah interrupted.

Jayla shrugged while smiling. "We'll see."

"Can you believe them?" Amiyah asked Lucrecia who was sitting across from them.

She put down her copy of daily prophet. "Pretty weird for a Gryffindor." Lucrecia imputed.

Drea looked up from her book. "I mean, Nate Westerfield likes to read." She said.

Lucrecia smirked. "He is a _very_ special Gryffindor, huh?" She said, nudging Drea.

A blush crept to the Ravenclaw's face. "Oh shut up, Lu."

Jayla furrowed her eyebrows. Drea had a crush on a Gryffindor? Such things were unheard of. Most Gryffindors got bored with Ravenclaws far too quickly. Ravenclaws found Gryffindors obnoxious and arrogant. They were opposites.

"When I go to France," Tristian began, snapping her out of her thoughts of red and blue. "I'll get you something." He told her.

She waved him off. "Don't do that."

"No, I want to." He told her. "I never got you a Christmas present back." He pointed out.

Rolling her eyes, she shrugged. "If it makes you happy."

"Oh… Guys, we got to get to the train." 2D reminded.

The group of third years got up and started off towards the train. Tristian talked to her about how he was excited to see his mother. He said that one day Jayla should meet her. The Gryffindor agreed.

In their compartment, there was Tristian, 2D, Amiyah, Clay, and Jayla. Since Amiyah and 2D were having a slightly civilized conversation for once, none of them seemed to want to touch it and break it. Clay talked to Jayla and Tristian.

Goodbyes were always tough for Jayla, Amiyah, and 2D. They all knew they would see each other but it was weird thinking they wouldn't hang out every day. They hugged in a group before beginning to disperse. Jayla gave Clay a quick hug before he ran off to be with his family.

Finally, Jayla turned to Tristian. He looked like he was getting ready to walk away, adjusting his trunk. "You're not getting away without a hug!" She exclaimed with a grin before tackling him with a hug.

He seemed surprised but hugged her back anyways. It was short lived since blush was rising to Jayla's cheeks for an unknown reason. "Bye, Tristian." She said.

"Bye, Theodora." He mumbled, smiling.


	29. Chapter 29

YEAR FOUR

"Jayla!" Carol's voice called. She sighed, glancing down at the IPod Carol and Simon had gotten for her fourth birthday's present.

Jogging down the stairs, she slid down the handrail. She earned a slight glare from Carol. "What's up?" Jayla asked.

"There's mail for you." The woman told her, handing her an envelope. Carol turned and fed a dark brown owl that Jayla knew to be Tristian's. The owl nuzzled her hand before flying out the window. Jayla tried not to get so excited about the letter but it was proving challenging. She hadn't heard from him in a week.

"Getting the hang of the owls, are you?" Jayla said, sitting down at the table.

Carol smiled. "Nearly."

Jay turned her attention to ripping open the letter. It felt like it had something at the bottom of it. She took the paper out of the envelope first.

 _Dear Jayla,_

 _Sorry to have not written in a while… My mom keeps making me socially interact with my family._

 _I hope your week is going well. I kept my promise about the gift. I hope you like it._

 _With love,_

 _Tristian T._

She furrowed her eyebrows and shook the envelope until something metal came out. It was a gold chain necklace. It had a small circle pendant. She inspected it closer to see that it said 'amie'.

There was a small note attached to the necklace itself.

 _It says friend in French. I have a matching bronze one._

She smiled and held the necklace to her heart. "What's that?" Carol asked, sitting at the table with her.

"A gift from Tristian." She said, smiling down at the necklace.

Looking down at the necklace, she poked the pendant to see what it said. " _Amie_? Friend, huh?" Carol said.

"Yeah." Jayla said, unclipping the necklace.

"Here let me help you." She said, taking the necklace into her hands. "Tristian seems to be a special friend of yours, right?" Carol asked, moving it to be around Jayla's neck and clipping it into place.

Jaylw raised an eyebrow. "I guess…?"

Carol smiled knowingly. "He's in the smart people house, correct?"

Jayla nodded as she folded the note and put it back in the envelope. "Are you going to have him come visit?" She asked, her cheek on her palm.

"Probably not. He stays in France most of the summer." She replied.

Her adoptive mother smiled before getting up. "Well, I'd like to meet him sometime."

The whole conversation gave Jayla a suspicious, weird feeling in her stomach.


	30. Chapter 30

"Good to be back, eh?" Amiyah said, stretching out her arms after they passed the boundary of platform 9 and 3/4.

"Yeah…" Jayla mumbled. She was looking around for any trace of her blonde friend. He'd told her he'd meet her at the pub they usually transported to. Though they had waited there for almost a half hour and he never arrived.

"Stop worrying about lover-boy." Amiyah said, rolling her eyes. "He'll find his way."

"Lover-boy?" Jayla repeated in a sharp breath. She didn't know why Amiyah calling Tristian 'lover-boy' made her so anxious.

"I dunno… he's French? Isn't that the place of love?" She shrugged.

"Oh…" Jayla said.

"Oi… Jay, do you know that lady over there?" 2D whispered, nodding his head towards a lady with brown hair in a slick bun. She looked about forty and was staring directly at Jayla. Her mouth was moving and she realized she was talking to Nate Westerfield. Now that she saw them next to each other, she saw the resemblance. They had the same brown hair and light brown eyes.

The woman looked like she was on the edge of approaching Jayla but she didn't. To say that she felt creeped out, was an understatement. She decided she ask Nate about it later.

Though, she was distracted by someone tapping on her shoulder. She turned and saw Tristian. She automatically broke into a smile, feeling relief flood through her. "Tristian." She breathed.

He looked worried and terrified. His wavy hair was flopping into his eyes. "Are you okay?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm fine." He muttered.

Jayla tilted her head before pursing her lips. "You can talk to me, you know?"

"Yeah…" He mumbled, looking to the side. She stood, giving him a pointed look. "Listen, later, okay?" Tristian said, grabbing her shoulder gently.

She relaxed her face muscles a little. "Okay."

"Can we get on the train now?" Amiyah asked impatiently.

"Yeah, yeah…" Jayla said, following her to the train.

The first hour of the ride was spent laughing at 2D and Amiyah's jokes and nervously looking over at Tristian. He looked tired and uneasy. He kept looking over at Jayla as if to make sure she was still there.

"Theodora…" Tristian finally said when 2D and Amiyah were exchanging chocolate frog cards.

She scooted towards him. "Yes?" Jayla said automatically.

He ran his fingers through his hair. "I…"

Someone opened the compartment door. Jayla looked over and saw Nate Westerfield. "Uh, hey, guys." He said, standing awkwardly at the door.

"Hey, Nate." Jayla said, smiling at him. She remembered the incident with his mother a few hours prior and lost it.

He looked around at them all before speaking again. "You're last name is Wynwood, right?" Nate asked.

"Yeah?" She replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh… sorry… My mom was just saying you looked just like her friend from school and she swore you were someone's daughter." He said, shrugging.

Jayla laughed lightly. "I'm from America, I couldn't be."

Nate laughed apprehensively. "Yeah…" He said. "I'll see you guys around." The Gryffindor said before walking out of the compartment.

"That was weird." Amiyah said.

"I second that." 2D agreed.

"Wow, you guys are likeminded on something for once." Jayla laughed.


	31. Chapter 31

"Thank god for that new rule." Jayla said as she followed Drea.

She nodded. "I can't believe I forgot about this project entirely." She sighed, running her fingers through her long, dirty-blonde hair.

"Well at least we remembered." Jay chuckled.

They walked up to what seemed to be a door with no knob but with only a doorknocker on it. Seeing Drea, it asked, "I can only live where there is light, but I die if the light shines on me. What am I?"

Jayla raised an eyebrow. Ravenclaws had to do this every time they entered the room? Jeez, if this was for Gryffindors, there'd probably be a hole in the door.

Drea scrunched up her face in thought. Jayla knew she'd be of no help so she leaned on a wall. Glancing around at the stone walls, Drea seemed to find her answer. "A shadow."

The door swung open. Drea walked into the common room with a proud smile. Jayla followed her, confused and still trying to put the riddle together. The lighter haired girl spread out her stuff on a coffee table. Jayla sat next to her and began to get her stuff out. "Have you ever gotten locked out?" Jay asked.

She scoffed. "All the time."

Jayla shrugged, feeling a little better. "So your roommates don't mind that I'm staying over?"

"No. Brianna, Ida, and Tracey are all staying over someone else's dorm. Latrisha will be there but she sleeps deeper than a bear. I could stab her and she wouldn't wake up… well… if she wasn't dead- well actually, if she was dead then- never mind, you get the idea." Drea told her, waving her hands in the air.

The rule was new since they introduced it a little bit after the term had started. Every weekend since then had people abandoning their dorms. It was bound to die down sooner or later.

The project luckily wasn't too difficult and only took a few hours. As she worked on the project, she realized everything Tristian had said was true. The whole room was quiet besides low murmurs. Luckily, no one fell down the stairs- or at least yet. Perhaps it was only because she had the main culprit next to her.

It was such a vast contrast from the Gryffindor common room. No one _actually_ worked on their homework in there. If you weren't prepared to dodge a fanged Frisbee, you weren't prepared to be in the common room. That's why most people didn't walk out of their dorm until they were fully awake.

Tristian walked into the common room from the door out. He spotted Jayla and looked happily surprised. He rushed over to her and sat next to her. "Are you going to stay here overnight?" He asked.

"Yeah, I am." She told him, smiling.

"That's cool." He said. "I needed to tell you about this study I read about cauldrons." Tristian told her.

Jayla listened as he went on about bronze and gold cauldrons. Drea finally spoke up and asked him where he had read it. Tristian seemed to shrink up. "Uh… Potions Weekly." He muttered. "I actually need to work on my potions homework." Tristian whispered, getting up.

"Bye, Tristian." Jay said.

"Goodnight, Theodora." He mumbled with a smile before walking up stairs to get his dorm.

Jay got back to work, clearing up the table they had been working on. She looked over to Drea whose mouth was wide open. "I've never seen him talk so much in my life. I'm in all his classes for goodness sake!" She exclaimed.

Shrugging, Jay said, "He's shy."

Drea raised her eyebrows as if to say 'you don't say, captain obvious' before packing up her own things.

They walked up to her dorm room where Latrisha was already fast asleep. Drea fumbled and dropped her metal water bottle loudly and Latrisha didn't even stir.

Gesturing to a bed that seemed out of place next to hers, Drea told Jayla, "That's the bed that was summoned for you tonight."

"Cool, cool." Jayla said, throwing her bag on it. She took out the pajamas she had brought and changed into them. Drea started to talk about Professor Webb and they began talking about random things- mostly school. They gossiped and joked around like most fourteen year olds did, witches or not.

Jayla didn't remember passing out but she certainly recollected waking up. She heard some of the most pained screaming she had ever heard. She completely fell off her bed whilst in the attempt of trying to get out of it. She made a loud thud and Drea woke up. "What's wrong?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Jayla kicked to get her foot free. "You don't hear the screaming?!" She exclaimed, getting up from the floor.

Drea was still for a moment, seeming like she was trying to listen for the screaming. "I don't, actually."

"There's someone screaming in the dorm next to us!" Jayla said, beginning to jog out of the room. Drea seemed to be trying to follow her but was still dazed slightly.

She burst into the room that she heard the screaming coming from and noticed she was in a boys' dorm. Most of them stayed asleep whereas some turned slight, probably assuming she was just one of them who had gone to the bathroom.

In a bed was a person violently thrashing around and yelling. She ran over and noticed it was none other than Tristian. He must've been having a nightmare.

She grabbed his shoulders and tried to wake him. "Tristian…" She repeated over and over until finally his eyes snapped open like a reverse bear trap and lunged forwards, bucking heads with Jayla.

"Bloody…" She muttered, clutching her forehead.

" _Non! Ils ont elle! Ils ont elle!_ " He yelled, pulling at his hair. The second he saw her his eyes widened. "Theodora!" Tristian exclaimed. "Je pensais qu'ils avaient et je vous était tellement peur . Je suis tellement désolé! Je ne pouvais pas bouger!" He cried, grabbing her and pulling her into a tight embrace.

She hugged him back. Letting him calm down for a minute or two, she stoked his golden hair. He smelt like mint and chamomile with pinch of sweat. "Tristian, I can't speak French, what did you say?" Jayla requested in a soothing voice.

"Th-They had you! They were taking you away and I couldn't move!" He sobbed into her neck.

"I'm right here, Tristian. There's no need to be afraid." She promised. He laid quietly, rocking slightly in her arms.

After he had finally composed himself, he pulled away a little. "How… How did you hear me?" He asked.

"I was staying in Drea's room." Jayla replied, nodding her head in the direction of her friend's room.

"No…" He said, furrowing his eyebrows. "I put a muffling charm of sorts on myself. I have nightmares like this every so often and… it's impossible to hear through." Tristian muttered.

"Well… I did." She shrugged.

He squinted. "You can't just hear through a quieting charm."

"Maybe I can." She said, wiggling her eyebrows.

"This makes no sense." He uttered.

"A lot of things don't." She told him.

"Great solution to this equation." He murmured, rolling his eyes with a small smile.

She grinned. "Thanks."

There was a moment of silence.

Finally they realized that it was Tristian and Jayla sitting on a bed at around three in the morning.

"You bucked heads with me." She said just to break the hush.

"I apologize." He told her, eyebrows bowing.

"It's alright. Sometimes Linda elbows me to wake me up." Jayla told him.

Another awkward silence filled the room like water in a tank.

He began to get up as he glanced over to one of his roommates. "Do you want to talk in the common room?" He suggested.

Nodding, she got up. Jayla followed Tristian to the common room. The dark blue room looked very different with minimal lighting. There was only one other person in the room, a curly haired first year who was reading. He saw them and his eyes widened. Closing his book, he ran up to his dorm. "Must've thought you were a prefect." Jayla inferred.

He shrugged. "It's basically impossible for me to become a prefect."

She raised an eyebrow. Jay knew that it was definitely more difficult to be a prefect in Ravenclaw with all the esteemed students in the house but Tristian was definitely up there on the list of Ravenclaws. Besides his low participation in class, he excelled at most anything they taught. "I think you could do it." She told him.

There was that silence again.

"My boggart has changed." He blurted.

"What?" She asked.

"I heard about the things the fifth years were doing with the boggarts and I couldn't help myself. I snuck into Professor Williams' room and found out what mine was when I was in my first year. It was my brother at first. I thought it was amazing until he attacked me-"

"You have a brother?" She asked confused.

"I do. His name was Louis. He went here. He was really popular, everyone knew and loved him. Then he was murdered by pure-blood supremacists when I was nine… right at my house." He told her, eyes blank as he looked at her. He looked like tears were about to form. Though she could also sense that he had had many years to numb himself to the story.

Jayla didn't know what to say. She knew that 'sorry' wouldn't cut it. That was his brother. He was only _nine_. What could she have said? What could she have done besides gape awkwardly?

"Then later, in third year, it was my mother." He continued, not seeming to want to dwell on his brother. "Now it's still her but it changes- flickers between her and… you." Tristian muttered quickly and nervously.

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Me? You're scared of me?"

"No… It… It's a dead version of you." He whispered, looking to the ground as if rehashing bad memories.

She didn't know how to react to the information. "Oh…"

"I… I've had this- ability… to see the future in my dreams quite often. Sometimes but rarely, it doesn't come true but I had a dream, Theodora, a terrible dream about you." He whispered. "I dreamt that I was paralyzed and you were being taken away by… people… these terrible people…" He murmured.

"It's not real, Tristian." She told him, nearing him.

He looked at her with his eyebrows bent down in sorrow. It looked like he was saddened that she didn't understand. Tristian reached out for her and she automatically moved forwards. He cupped her cheek as a tear created a glistening river on his cheek. "I hope so, Theodora." Tristian said.

The witch's heart was beating faster of any record it had ever had. She didn't know why she felt so nervous- it was just Tristian. Her quiet friend Tristian.

Tristian brought her closer by her face that he was holding. She barely thought about her feet moving. For a second she thought he was going kiss her right on the lips but he instead swooped his head down to kiss her forehead. "I never want anything bad to happen to you." He whispered, wrapping his arms around her.

She hugged his waist tightly. "I feel the same way to you." Jayla said, feeling emotion conquer her. She felt herself cry. His fingers skimmed through her hair.


	32. Chapter 32

"Are you okay?" Amiyah asked for the fourth time.

"Yes." She uttered, looking at her shoes.

"No you aren't! You've been acting like you've seen a ghost all bloody morning. I mean it's possible you could've seen a ghost but- that's not what I meant." Amiyah exasperated.

"Jay, please… you're worrying me." Amiyah said gently. Jayla had never heard her speak so softly in their whole friendship.

A few seconds passed without her answering. "What happened in the Ravenclaw dorm?" She asked suspiciously.

Turning around, she sighed. "I just had a really weird night."

Amiyah gasped. "Did you shag Tristian?

Jayla's mouth popped opened. "Bloody hell! No, I didn't!"

"Bummer." Amiyah muttered, grabbing her wand and stuffing it in her tall combat boots.

"Oh my god." Jayla breathed, following her roommate out of the dorm. Tristian and Jayla were just friends. Friends who cared a lot about each other.

Amiyah began talking about something else and Jayla was relieved. Most of it was about Quidditch until Amiyah stopped midsentence. "Oi! Charlie Greengrass is looking at _you_." Ami whispered excitedly.

Jayla furrowed her eyebrows before following her friend's line of vision. She was right, he was looking at her. Charlie was one of the most popular guy's in the year above hers with girls. A lot of girls had a crush on him. Jayla could see why. He had a strong jawline and masculine facial features. He styled his blonde hair everyday into a tousled look. His light blue eyes could weaken most any girl's knees. He was definitely in line to be the Quidditch captain since he played a bloody good beater. Even Jayla would admit that she had sometimes caught herself fantasizing about him.

" _Ohmygosh_." Jayla breathed.

Amiyah pouted. "Jealous."

She sent her friend an eye roll. "Oh, please."

"Oh, come on, Jay! Over the last few months you've started to get hit." Ami scoffed.

"Hit by what?" Jayla asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Puberty! You have hips 'n shit now!" Her best friend pointed out.

Jayla grabbed onto her sides self-consciously. "Your point is?"

"You're like… hot now." Amiyah said, shoving at her friend.

Jayla raised her eyebrows at her friend. "Intelligently put."

She grinned toothily. "You know it."

Amiyah stopped to look at the front page of an old Daily Prophet laying on a bench. Jayla waited impatiently for her, thinking about what she had just said.

"Hey, Jay." She heard a voice say.

Looking up, she saw Charlie Greengrass. Jayla's eyes widened. He winked at her and she noticed he had better eyelashes than her.

"Erm, hi!" She nearly yelled. She automatically felt like crumpling into a ball and dying. Charlie chuckled and began to walk away. Jayla groaned before slamming her back against the wall.

" _That_ was awkward." Amiyah laughed.

Jayla shoved her. "I know, you arse."

2D waddled up to them with his face red and his hands shoved in his bomber jacket's pockets. "I… I need you guys' help." He muttered.

"What it is?" Amiyah asked.

"I want… I want to ask this girl out." He said.

"Who?" Jayla said excitedly. Most times, 2D would just comment that a girl was hot before hiding from the girl while watching her from afar for a few weeks. Creepy? Yes. Effective? No.

"Birdie MacKennith." He said, scratching his messy azure hair.

Jayla nodded. She knew her to be a Hufflepuff in their year. She wasn't sure if she had ever actually talked to Birdie but she had never heard a bad word spoken about her. "She's cute and nice. Have you talked to her at all?"

"Yeah a bit… I'm really scared she doesn't _actually_ like me back but her friend Lorena told me she did… so I dunno…" He uttered quickly, rubbing his hands together.

"I'm sure she does." Jayla assured him.

"I've got to go." Amiyah muttered before abruptly walking away.

2D craned his neck to watch her go. "What's _her_ problem… you know, _today_?" He scoffed, crossing his arms.

Jayla looked over 2D's shoulder at Amiyah who was already completely down the hall and shrugged. "Dunno." She replied.

"Well… How do you think I should ask her?" 2D asked, shifting his weight from his heels to his toes.

Jayla breathed out in thought. "I supposed just a simple, 'wanna go out?' is alright."

"Hm…" He said, tapping his chin.

"Theodora!" Someone blurted as they walked by, tapping her shoulder. Instantly smiling, she looked up and saw Tristian walking by. He turned to face her as he walked, waving.

"Hey, Tristian!" She called back, grinning and tucking her hair behind her ears.

"You've got it bad." 2D remarked.

She looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

"Tristian… you're like- in love with him." He said, shrugging.

"I mean, I love Tristian… but it's not in a romantic way or anything…" She replied but as she said it, she felt as if she was lying.

This time 2D was the one to raise an eyebrow. He rummaged through his bag before taking out a little circle of glass. He raised it to his eye and made 'tut'ing noises. "Your heart rate is crazy." He told her before putting it away. "And your eyes are dilated."

"Whatever… since when are you a science expert?" She quipped.

He shrugged before shoving his hands in his pockets. "I just like seeing how people react to things- it's actually the only thing I actually study. I got this little jobby that reads heartbeats. Actually Amiyah bought it for me." He said, holding up the circle of glass quickly. "The only non-fiction stuff I'll read is sociology." He added.

"Okay, Mr. Philosopher." She chuckled.

"Anyways, point is, whether you're going to admit it to me, your best friend, you fancy him. You should probably admit it to yourself, to be honest." 2D said.

She looked away from him and crossed his arms. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure…" He said before turning and swaying away from her.

"I hate you!" She called.

"I love you!" He yelled back, giving her that endearing grin.


	33. Chapter 33

"Did I ever tell you how Thomas asked me out?" Birdie asked as she leaned into 2D's side.

"Yeah, about twenty times, actually." Amiyah muttered, leaning her face on her palm. Jayla kicked her under the table. "Ouch!" She exclaimed, glaring at her while rubbing her shin.

"I haven't heard it." Drea said. Amiyah sent her a death scowl.

"Tell me again! It's _so_ cute!" Angelina cried.

"Okay, okay… well you see, I have had this huge crush on Tommy-" She began.

" _Tommy_?" Amiyah repeated in a scoff. "His name is 2D." She spit.

Birdie tilted her head. "I like Tommy better." She remarked, tapping her chin while making doe eyes. "What do you think, muffin?" She asked, leaning forwards slightly. Jayla noticed that 2D now had a better view of her chest.

But he didn't look at her chest, just her eyes. "Whatever you call me is what I like." He said, grinning.

Jayla could've sworn she saw Birdie's eyes flash to Amiyah and a small smirk grow on her lips. "Oh, Tommy…" She said, looking at him through her eyelashes.

"Continue the story!" Angelina pleaded.

"Okay, so, he came up to me and he was so nervous. It was bloody adorable! He tried to summon some flowers out of his wand but he ended up messing up and they hit me in the eye with so much force I fell… He helped me up as he apologized a gazillion times… and then he asked me out, probably thinking he didn't have a chance but in reality, he had the best chance." Birdie said, looking up at 2D. He smiled nervously.

"I've got to go vomit, sorry." Amiyah whispered before getting up. Jayla couldn't help but snort. The couple _was_ a bit over the top. Birdie was constantly hanging off of 2D and he looked like he was in a constant state of emergency. She had barely talked to him since they got together. When they did have a chance to chat, he would usually just talk about how nervous he was.

Birdie was rather pretty. She had normal sized green eyes but would always widen them to look more cartoonish. She had long, straight, brown hair that went down to the curve in her back. She usually wore a golden colored headband that brought out the lighter color strands in her hair. She also wore gold shimmery makeup that made her dull green eyes look brighter. She was rather tall for a girl but was still shorter than 2D, who was the tallest boy in their year.

Jayla had always had the experience of having Birdie be nothing but kind. Though, it seemed whenever Amiyah was around, she grew claws. She would always act cuddlier towards 2D and interrupt Amiyah when she was trying to talk to 2D. She must've just been jealous of how good of friends they were. Only- the little friend group had been having significantly more problems since the whole thing had arisen.

"I'm going to go follow her." Jay said, getting up.

She jogged to catch up to Amiyah who was almost already completely down the hall. "Hey, Ami!" She called.

Her friend whipped around and Jayla could feel the wrath radiating off of her. "What?!" She snapped.

Jayla neared her cautiously. "You alright?" She asked stupidly.

"Just _chipper_ , actually." She hissed.

The witch would admit that she wasn't the best at comforting friends since she had never really had to, besides Tristian. Amiyah was very independent and barely showed negative emotions. If she had a problem, she was very outward about it- at least that's what Jayla assumed. "Hey… you can talk to me about it… we can work it out." She said.

Amiyah was breathing heavy from angry. "2D is _my_ best friend! She's going around acting like I'm nothing to him! We grew up together!" She shouted, waving her hands around. Jayla had this small feeling that Amiyah didn't actually feel that way. There was something else there that she wouldn't admit to Jayla.

"I mean, yeah, I hate that I don't get to hang out with 2D as much but he seems happy…" Jayla said.

Amiyah's face contorted. "Look who's on their way…" She growled.

Jay turned and saw 2D was walking their way. "Oh… no…" Jayla uttered, knowing a volcano was about erupt.

"Oh, you're finally sick of her hanging off you?" Amiyah spit.

2D looked confused. "What? I was just going to the bathroom."

"I mean, if I were you, I'd constantly be scheming to get away from the baboon." Amiyah said, crossing her arms. Even her posture of how she usually fought with 2D was different. Amiyah regularly just put her hands on her hips- she was _actually_ angry. Her fists were clenched and her eyes almost looked watery. Jayla would be surprised if Amiyah's hair raised around her head like in the cartoons.

"Why do you hate her so much?" 2D asked, looking like he was getting irritated.

She scoffed. "Why wouldn't I? She constantly bats her eyelashes like she's got something in her big eyes! Oh wait- she doesn't actually have big eyes… She's so bloody annoying!" Amiyah said and her voice broke with emotion.

Her angry stature eased slightly. "God, it's like you've forgotten about me!" She yelled.

2D looked angry. "Well excused me for getting a girlfriend. I mean you're always hanging off that idiot, Luke Singh! And maybe it's nice to hang out with someone who doesn't argue over every damn thing I say." He yelled. Jayla had never seen him so upset.

Amiyah's angry face fell further. "I… I thought you liked our bickering…" She whispered.

The wizard looked like he realized his mistake. "Amiyah-" He began.

"You know what- I hope you have a great time hanging out with Birdie." She spit before running down the hall.

There were a few seconds of silence. Then a few sounds of distant crashing noises which probably meant Amiyah was destroying things.

"She's barmy…" He uttered, shaking his head. He looked at Jayla and she shrugged. On some points, she agreed with Amiyah and on others she agreed with 2D.

"I'm going to go make sure she's okay…" She said awkwardly.

He nodded. "You probably should."


	34. Chapter 34

The next few weeks were great! Except the exact opposite. She was in a constant tug of war between her two best friends. There was a downright silence contest between Amiyah and 2D and it seemed there wasn't much she could do about it. Seeing as Jayla didn't exactly want to shun 2D with her, Amiyah began to hang out with Lu and Drea. Though, Jayla didn't exactly fancy third wheeling a couple, so she mostly hung out with Tristian.

Somewhere during the hurricane of drama, Amiyah got asked out by Luke Singh. She said yes. Jayla noticed that she would snog him a lot when 2D was around. That made 2D snog Birdie a lot. There was a whole lot of awkwardness so most of the time she was on her own in the friend group. Thank goodness for Tristian.

He had been telling her the nightmares kept bothering him. She felt useless since she couldn't support him. She tried to find ways to stop dreaming but there was relatively nothing. They would look together in the library for hours. Sometimes she'd fall asleep there. He'd let her sleep on his arm.

She had somehow dragged Tristian into the idea of going to the Gryffindor vs Slytherin Quidditch game. It was an especially exciting one because of the strong rivalry between the two houses. She didn't exactly _get_ it but she loved the feeling of competition, even if she wasn't playing.

Tristian stood awkwardly outside her dorm until she pranced over to him. She twirled around him, grinning. She swung her scarf off her neck and looped it around Tristian. He smiled down at her and laughed. He had grown a lot through the year and was now quite a bit taller than her. Her eyes and his chin were leveled. Only a year before, he had been shorter than her.

"Red looks good on you." She said, swinging one end over his shoulder.

He blushed a little before running his fingers through his hair. "Thank you."

"Come on, we've got to go." She said, grabbing his hand as she started to jog after she checked her watch

He stumbled after her. "Well if someone else had been slightly more punctual getting ready…" He mumbled teasingly.

She turned and jogged backwards. "You know what happens when I don't tame my hair… it gets caught on things." She told him with a pointed look. They both laughed.

They got to the Quidditch stands and tried to find 2D and Birdie. "It's a lovely day, isn't it?" She said airily as Tristian and Jayla spotted them.

"'Suppose." 2D said, raising his eyebrow at the cloudy sky.

Jayla sat next to 2D and he smiled at her and Tristian. "Nice scarf, mate." He said.

Tristian laughed nervously while fiddling with it as he sat down. "Thanks."

She leaned her head on Tristian's shoulder. She had stayed up late last night with Linda to work on a project.

The Quidditch players hadn't come onto the field yet. "I hope Gryffindor wins." Birdie said to Jayla, offering a smile.

"Yeah, same." Jayla chuckled, looking towards Tristian for a conversation. She didn't exactly like Birdie but she was trying to. She was just slightly annoying. Luckily, Tristian started telling her about something he read, per a usual.

Tristian waved down a person selling drinks. The girl was a prefect in Hufflepuff who was in her final year, Jayla believed. There were some small jobs for Hogwarts students but usually they were very rare. "Uh, two hot ambrosias, please." He said, searching his pockets.

The girl nodded and flicked her wands while mumbling a charm. A pitcher began to pour two cups without any touch of the Hufflepuff prefect's hands. "Twelve sickles." She told him.

He counted out the money and handed it to her. She handed him the two drinks. Tristian gave Jayla one of the cups. She smiled. "Thanks, Tristian." Jayla said.

"No problem." He said, smiling back at her.

She glanced over and saw Birdie looking at 2D expectantly. He wasn't paying attention to her, instead looking at the field. "Amiyah's coming out." He said, smiling. 2D stopped himself and instead scowled.

Jayla pursed her lips while sighing. She shared a look with Tristian.

Jayla peered from her seat and saw Amiyah's number, three, on the back of a red uniform. She stumbled forwards a little and Tristian quickly grabbed her waist, balancing her.

"For god's sake… they're a cuter couple and they're not even dating…" Birdie huffed under her breath. Jayla barely caught it but felt her face go florid. She wondered if Tristian heard it. Since his cheeks were as red as the scarf he was wearing, she assumed so.

Both teams mounted their brooms. She noticed Elizabeth was on the other team. She was pretty good but she always yelled at her teammates when they messed up. She frequently saw her teammates rolling their eyes at her.

The broom rose and the game became chaotic quickly. Amiyah zoomed around the field, fulfilling her position of chaser.

She ended up being the first to throw the Quaffle through the goal posts. She got up and cheered and Tristian joined her. It seemed that 2D got up out of instinct. "Yeah, Ami!" He yelled.

Birdie looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He slowly sunk down.

The game went on and it consisted of a lot of 2D trying to control his cheering. The game was slightly shorter than expected seeing as the Gryffindor seeker found it fifteen minutes into the game. Most of the stands erupted in cheers.

Jayla raced down to congratulate her best friend. As soon as she saw her coming from the field, she jumped on her, slapping her back. "You did so well!" She exclaimed, punching her shoulder.

"Thanks!" She yelled back with a big grin.

"You did… really great." Jayla heard the familiar squeaky voice of 2D say. She turned and 2D was smiling down at Amiyah.

She looked caught off-guard. "Th-Thank you, 2D." She uttered.

Luke Singh appeared out of nowhere and embraced Amiyah. "Good job, babe!" He said, lifting her up a little. She giggled and squealed, hitting his chest.

Jayla smiled at the cute couple and looked over at 2D. He looked like he had aged twenty years. He had no trace of a smile on his face. His forehead wrinkled up before he turned away. He glanced back, only to see Luke and Ami snogging.

Before she could think too much about the exchange, someone walked to be in front of her. None other than Charlie Greengrass was looking down at her. "Hey, Jay." He said. They had had a bit of communication over the last few months. She had found that he wasn't the nicest or the smartest guy but what he didn't have in kindness and intelligence, he made up in good looks and charm. _Plus_ , he was a year above her! _That_ was exciting.

"Hey, Charlie. You did great." She said, twirling her hair in a weak attempt to flirt.

"I'll see you at the party, right?" He asked.

"Definitely." She replied.

He winked at her before walking off. She clutched her chest and sighed. "I don't like him." Tristian mumbled behind her. She jumped, not knowing he was behind her.

Turning, she shrugged. "I like him."

He frowned. "He seems… bad."

"Don't slag him! He's really cool." She argued.

"Is he actually cool or is he just a year above us?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Shut up." She muttered, looking away from him.

When she looked back up, he was pouting. "Look, I see your point but I got this, okay?" She said.

He pursed his lips. "Okay."

An hour later she was at the party, standing next to Linda. Tristian said he was going to skip the party. She let him since he seemed to be in a bad mood.

Sweeping her eyes around the room, she saw a lot of interesting things. Mikio was wearing his school tie around his head and dancing around with some girl in his year. Jayla thought her name was Maddie or something. She didn't see Troye which made her uneasy. Jayla found Charlie chugging something with his friend Hudson. He won whatever kind of game they were playing and fist pumped the air. He looked around the room before locking eyes with Jayla. She bit her lip and looked away. When she looked up, Charlie was standing over her. "You're fit." He slurred.

"Th-Thanks." She stammered.

He grabbed her by the back of the neck and kissed her. She was stunned but kissed him back.


	35. Chapter 35

The next month consisted of being shoved into empty classrooms and snogging Charlie. It was exciting and all but it started to weigh her down. The only time he agreed to talk after the snogging was when he asked her to be his girlfriend.

It seemed there was a lot of stress going on in her life. She saw Tristian less which made her feel slightly vacant. 2D and Amiyah were still not talking to each other. Birdie and 2D's relationship was on eggshells. They didn't seem to be as happy as they were month before. One the other hand, Luke and Amiyah were doing really well. They seemed to keep getting closer and closer.

A lot of the time, she felt like she was just wandering around the castle, looking for Tristian. Finally, one day in April, she saw him in the library. "Tristian." She said in a sigh.

He looked up at her and halfway smiled. "Hey."

"It feels like I haven't talked to you in ages." She said.

"Feels like it." He agreed.

Flattening her hair, she around the room and adjusted her glasses. "What have you been up to?" She asked.

"The usual… reading… nightmares." He mumbled.

Her eyebrows pressed together in sympathy. "Really? Those are still going on?"

"Yeah…" He breathed, running his fingers through his golden hair.

Suddenly, people behind them started screaming. She looked behind her and saw that someone had caught a wall on fire and the flames were dark green. "We better get out of here." Tristian said, widening his eyes. "That's some _bad_ fire." He muttered, grabbing her hand and pulling out of the library after the rest of the people who had cleared out.

He stopped when they were a safe way away from the library. "Do you want to go study in my common room?" She suggested.

He shrugged. "Sure."

They walked to the permission slip box that was close to the Gryffindor entrance. They filled out a short form and put it in a clear box. It was automatic, of course. If it was accepted, it would burst into flame. If it was denied, it would explode.

The note turned to flame. Jayla and Tristian walked into the common room after she said the password. They sat together towards the back of the room. They were partially hidden by a curtain. He helped her with her transfiguration homework.

She saw Charlie and was going to wave but then she noticed how he was looking around the room anxiously. He seemed to look relieved before turning to a girl who was standing behind him. She recognized her as a Gryffindor two years above her named Shelby. She had dark hair and pretty, bright-brown eyes.

He took her hand and led her up the stairs to where the dorms were. "What is he doing?" She murmured.

"Uhm… maybe they're studying… it is quite loud in here." Tristian suggested but didn't sound convinced by his own argument.

She closed her eyes and pressed her eyebrows together. "Yeah… maybe…" She squeaked.

When she opened her eyes, she expected to see Tristian with an 'I told you so' expression but his face was nothing but empathetic. They just sat in silence for a few minutes as she looked down.

"Jayla." An upset voice said. Looking up, she saw Mikio. He looked furious. His hands were in fists and his eyebrows were knit together. She tried to recall the last time she had done something rude to Mikio but couldn't remember anything recent.

"Yes?" She replied.

"That dick, Charlie, is snogging Shelby in our room. I gave him an earful for you." He huffed crossly.

Jayla eyes blurred. "Dammit." She uttered, picking at her skirt. She didn't want to cry in front of her house.

"He's an idiot." Mikio assured her, touching her shoulder.

"Yeah…" She murmured.

Jayla sat for a few seconds before getting up abruptly. She grabbed Tristian's hand and pulled him up into her dorm. She slid down the nearest wall and began to sob. Her best friend stood there awkwardly, not exactly knowing how to react. She looked up at him with big eyes before spreading her arms to signify she wanted a hug. He sat next to her and wrapped his arms around her. "Mikio's right… Charlie is stupid." Tristian told her, resting his chin on top of her head. She felt his shirt beginning to get cool against her cheek from her tears.

"I just wanted to be good enough for him. I knew he was older and hotter and better than me. I tried so goddamn hard." She whispered.

He moved her head from being stuffed into his chest. He held her cheek. "You're enough. He's stupid to try to have Shelby too when you're more than enough. He asked _you_ out anyways… he obviously wanted you more than her but he got greedy." Tristian told her, looking into her hazel eyes with his honey brown ones. He said it so sincerely, she almost believed him.

Her lip wobbled and she looked down.

He held her like that until someone came in. She looked over to see Amiyah who looked sympathetic. Mikio must've passed on the news to his sister. "Hey, Jay…" She said.

She looked to Tristian. "You should probably go before Aisha or Angelina come in and report you." Jayla mumbled.

"Okay." He nodded. He kissed the top of her head before getting up and walking out.

Amiyah sat cross-legged next to her. "Hey, man… it's going to be okay…" She said.

It didn't feel like it. Jayla's heart hurt far more than it should have. She might not have meant much to Charlie but he meant a lot to her. Maybe it was because she had this sort of pride about him. She had seized the hottest guy in the year above her. Sure, he didn't have the best personality, but he made her feel like she was something special. Out of all the girls, he had picked her.

But now…

She felt like she wasn't enough but also felt that she was stupid for feeling so… like her feelings were invalid.

"I guess." She said.

"Come on… let's talk about something else…" Amiyah suggested. Jayla knew her suggestion was probably a good idea.

A thought popped into her head. "What was the real reason you got so mad at 2D for dating Birdie?" Jayla asked.

Amiyah looked shocked at the question. "Well…" She uttered.

"Tell the truth this time, please." Jayla requested.

She took a deep breath. "I've had a major crush on 2D since I met him. I mean… he's adorable. My feelings have only gotten stronger and then… I started to believe for some crazy reason he liked me back at the beginning of this year… and… then he started to go out with Birdie." Amiyah whispered, running her fingers through her long silky hair.

Jayla's eyes widened. She had always felt a little left out from their trio because they were constantly in a tiff. But she never felt like a third wheel.

Had she been?

"Oh…" Jayla let out.

Amiyah looked at her with a horrified expression. "Do you fancy him?"

Jayla chuckled. "No, no."

"Whew…" Amiyah sighed.

"Well… on the bright side… I think 2D and Birdie are nearing the end of their relationship." She mentioned.

Amiyah groaned. "There's another problem. I really like Luke. I don't want to end things with him."

Jayla breathed in sharply. "Tough spot to be in."

"Yeah." Amiyah agreed, hitting her head against the wall. "I mean, I don't even think he likes me… He basically said I annoy the hell out of him." She muttered, looking down.

Jayla tried to think about 2D and Amiyah. She tried to think about all the times they weren't fighting. A few instances popped into her head. Once when 2D was confused on how to use a magic appliance and Amiyah helped him with a small smile. She remembered him looking down at her like she was the first flower to bloom in the spring. She could recall Amiyah helping him study. 2D kept looking at her like she was his bed after a tough day.

"I think… I think he does… He looks at you differently than me- or Birdie for that matter…" She tried to explain.

"I dunno…" She mumbled.

"I do… He really, really likes you." She said surely as more instances of 2D looking at Amiyah came into her mind.

She smiled a little. "Yeah, whatever, Jay…" She said, shoving her as she blushed. Jayla wasn't sure if she had ever seen Amiyah blush.


	36. Chapter 36

2D and Birdie were done by May. Luke and Amiyah, on the other hand, were still going strong.

2D tried to talk to Amiyah but she seemed uncomfortable. It soon became really awkward to be in a room with the two. They both talked to each other but it was always _weird_.

Most days of May were spent with Mikio and 2D ranting about Luke and Amiyah's relationship. Jayla tried to be a mediator but gave up rather quickly.

Then, on the final day of classes, things went wrong. Luke and Amiyah got in a big fight because he tried to tell her that she needed to back down every now and again. That set her off. The next week was spent with thunderous fighting. Their fights were intense.

Then, on the last day of exams, after the history of magic final to be exact, Luke whipped around to Amiyah who was glaring at him as she bickered with him.

"You know what?! It's over." He yelled in the middle of the hallway.

A few people stopped and watched what was happening. Jayla just stood there dumbfounded. "What?" Amiyah breathed.

"We're done. You don't know how to take criticism and I'm done with it!" He said, throwing his hands up in the air before storming off.

Amiyah turned to Jayla and blinked. "Oh my god."

A hand touched Amiyah's shoulder. Jayla looked to who it was connected to and saw 2D. He didn't look happy or smug, he looked empathetic for his friend.

The witch looked back at him, her eyes tearing up. They stood for a moment like that before she jumped into his arms.

"About time they talked." Tristian murmured in Jayla's ear. She nodded with a smile.


	37. Chapter 37

**_YEAR FIVE_**

"Uh, Jayla?" Carol shouted up the stairs.

"Yeah?" She replied.

"Come down here, please?" She squeaked.

Furrowing her eyebrows, she grabbed her glasses. She shuffled down the stairs quickly. Her jaw dropped as she entered the living room.

Nate Westerfield and his mother was wandering around the Wynwood's living room. "It's been so long since I've lived in a muggle home… I feel like I forgot what most of these things are for!" Mrs. Westerfield chuckled, looking at Carol like she'd find it relatable.

"Ah, yes…" Carol said, trying to be polite.

"I'm a muggle-born." The witch explained. "Which means I popped out from some muggles."

"Interesting…" Simon said, tiling his head.

"Could I get you some tea?" Carol offered.

"Please." Mrs. Westerfield said, sitting on the couch. She looked around and made eye contact with Jayla. "Oh, hello, Jayla." She said, offering a warm smile.

Jayla moved to sit on the couch. "Good afternoon, ma'am."

"Now, Jayla, I'm a slightly impatient woman and I don't like to beat around the bush." She told her. Jayla nodded. "Nate has told me you're from America… and… your lovely parents, Carol and Simon, did they… adopt you?" She asked, looking at the two white people then back to Jayla.

Jayla looked at Simon who looked at her encouragingly. "Yeah…"

"Where did you live?" She questioned.

Licking her lips, Jayla picked at her jeans. "New Orleans, Louisiana."

Mrs. Westerfield's eyes widened. "Do you remember your birth parents?"

"Not a lot." Jayla admitted.

The adult witch reached into her purse and pulled out a piece of small, shiny piece of paper out. She looked at Jayla before handing her what happened to be a photograph.

She looked down at the photograph and her heart dropped.

There was a man with short dreadlocks and bright smile with the same lips as Jayla. His eyebrows looked just like hers. Next to him was a woman who looked just like Jayla but with brown eyes.

It was her mother and father.

Her eyes were watery as she stared at the photo. "How do you know my parents?" She asked, looking up at the brown haired woman.

Mrs. Westerfield smiled down at her. "I went to school with your mother, Naliha Yaxley. She grew up in a strict household of pure-bloods and was raised to think less of muggle-borns. Her whole family had been sorted into Slytherin. Then she came to Hogwarts and got sorted into Gryffindor. At first she was timid towards me, a muggle-born. She soon came to understand we were equal. She kept it from her family. All was well… until a prophesy came out…" She said, seeming happy until her last sentence.

"Basically, the prophesy said that her daughter would take down the pure-blood supremacist leader who was rising. Her father's reaction was to lock her away since he was a part of this uprising of the pure-bloods.

"Your mother didn't want to be locked away, of course. She knew a boy from America… she had met him at a pure-blood ball. They had bonded over how they thought blood meant nothing. He saved her from her father's plan and brought her to America. They moved to New Orleans where there was so much magic, they'd be impossible to find. They fell in love and had you." She explained. "The last I've heard of them they said that you had been acting up with your magic so they were going to try to go into even more hiding so they wouldn't be able to communicate with me anymore…" She mumbled sadly.

"I was taken away… by child protective services." Jayla said.

"Yes… this happens with especially magic-active children." Mrs. Westerfield said. She looked down at her hands. "I know… that your parents loved you so much… and they haven't seen you in around seven years… Perhaps… if I gave you their address, you could visit them." The witch suggested.

Jayla's eyes widened as her heart pumped with yearning. Her eyes dashed to Simon. He was running his hands through the scruff on his chin while tilting his head. "Of course, you could go…" He said but licked his lips. "You can't go alone… but I think that you're mature enough to go with a friend. A clear-minded one friend who would make sure you didn't get lost… Perhaps your friend Drea… or Tristian?" Simon said, raising an eyebrow.

The young witch nodded. She'd reunite with her parents on any condition. "Simon, thank you…" She said from the bottom of her heart. Jayla hoped that her voice could show how much it meant to her.

He smiled at her. "Of course, honey."

Mrs. Westerfield poofed a pad of paper and a quill out of nothing. Carol walked in and sat next to Simon. "What's happening?" She asked.

"Jayla's going to New Orleans… her parents were actually magic. They weren't unstable, it was Jayla who was." Simon explained. Carol asked him more questions worriedly.

Nate's mom was scribbling down things on the pad of paper. "I'm giving you their address and the address of their close friend there in case you can't find them." She told Jayla, looking up and making eye contact with her. She had the same exact eyes as her son. Jayla wondered where she got her own eyes from.

"Okay. Thank you… thank you so much." She replied.

"One last thing… You have an uncle… sadly, he's not on our side… he's a supremacist. His name is Jelani, Jelani Yaxley… I think he might have a son- or a daughter…" She recalled, tapping on her chin.

Jayla's heart dropped to her feet. "Elizabeth and Michael?"

Mrs. Westerfield snapped her fingers. "Think so."

"Oh… Oh no…" She breathed.

The woman looked to her son. He looked shocked like Jayla. "Elizabeth downright terrorizes Jayla and Tristian. Michael's really nice though. He's in Hufflepuff." Nate explained.

Looking down at her hands, Mrs. Westerfield shook her head. "I had hope for Jelani…"

Jayla was still in shock from the revelation of being related to the Yaxleys. Michael was her cousin. _Elizabeth_ was her cousin.


	38. Chapter 38

"Toothbrush?"

"Yes."

"Cellphone?" Carol asked next.

Jayla held up the flip phone Simon and Carol had bought her for the trip. It had a gift card that gave her a certain amout of hours to talk on the phone. "Check."

"Do you have the extra gift cards?" She asked.

"Yes, Carol. I have everything." She said, offering a small smile.

Carol smiled down at her. The woman wrapped around her and kissed her head. "You'll be okay." Carol breathed, sounding like she was trying to convince herself.

She nodded. "I will be. I mean, I have a Ravenclaw with me."

Carol pursed his lips. "Part of the problem."

Jayla raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

She smirked a little. "Let's just say, we don't need a mini Tristian."

"Carol! It's not like that!" She exclaimed, blushing intensely.

"Oh, I'm no fool." Carol scoffed, making her mouth into a tight 'o'. "I've seen the way you talk about him. Reminds me a bit of how I talked about Simon." The woman giggled.

"Oh my gosh, Carol…" Jayla uttered, running her fingers through her hair.

"Jayla, Carol!" Simon's voice called. "Tristian is here!"

Jayla jumped up from her bed. She caught herself and looked at Carol. She didn't say anything but smiled knowingly. Jayla sent her a glare.

She tried not to rush down the stairs but couldn't help it. Her struggle of speed made her look like she was Irish step dancing down the stairs. As soon as she saw Tristian, her heart pounded it faster. She hadn't seen him in a month and a half but it felt like forever. She didn't notice how much more mature looking he had become over the school year and it finally hit her. He had such striking bone structure and a handsome body. Tristian's shoulders had become so broad and his body was lean. He said he spent most of the summer swimming and playing the bass and the swimming half showed. He looked to the stairs and made eye contact with her. His lips broke into a smile. It was almost like she was in some stupid, American-prom movie, walking down the steps in her gown. Except she was wearing overall shorts and a t-shirt.

"Hey, Theodora." He said.

She noticed how big she was smiling and knew she had given away that she was excited and ran down to give him a huge hug. "Tristian." She sighed, getting on her tiptoes to nuzzle her face into her friend's neck.

He wrapped his arms around her. "It's good to see you." Tristian told her.

"Same to you." She said, pulling away.

"Hello, Tristian. It's nice to finally meet you." Her adoptive mother greeted.

He nodded his head. "Hello, Mrs. Wynwood. It is nice to meet you as well."

"Oh, please, call me Carol." She said, waving her hand.

Tristian smiled. "Okay, Carol."

There was a silence. "Thank you, Mr. Wynwood, for the water. I think we should be going now." Tristian said.

Carol made a squeaking noise before embracing Jayla tightly. "Be safe, Jay."

"Yeah, kiddo." Simon said, hugging her as soon as Carol let go.

She took a step back as she looked at her adoptive parents. "I love you guys." She told them.

"We love you, too, sweetheart." Carol whispered, lip wobbling.

Jayla decided it was better to get out before the waterworks and grabbed floo powder from a zip-lock bag she had. She tossed it in the Wynwood's fireplace and gave them one last smile before saying the name of a magic folk's pub in New Orleans.

She was whipped around until she found herself crawling out of the fireplace of a lively pub. She saw many magic people socializing and drinking at a bar. A woman walking by with a tray full of drinks smiled at her. "Hey, sugar!" She greeted, putting drinks down in front of a group of burly men. She was black and thin. The waitress had a bit of sheerness on her forehead, most likely from running around serving drinks. She didn't know why she wouldn't just levitate the drinks to them but didn't question it. "Where ya rolling in from?"

"England." She answered, smiling back as she stuck her hands in the pockets of her overalls. "Originally from here, though." Jayla added.

"Ah… I've been hearing stories from there." She said, making a humming sound.

Tristian emerged from the fireplace and quickly moved to stand next to Jayla. "This your boyfriend?" The waitress asked, nodding her head towards her blonde friend.

Jayla's cheeks heated. "No. He's my friend."

She chuckled. "Excuse me. I'm a bit brute."

"It's okay." Jayla replied with a smile. Something about her surroundings made her feel at home. Maybe it was the accents or the friendliness of the people but she felt at ease.

"Sit down, you two." The waitress instructed kindly.

Jayla was the first to move, motioning for Tristian to follow her. They sat at the first open table. "I'm Belle, by the way! Give me a holler if you need something." She told them before running off.

Tristian ran his fingers through his hair. "Friendly." He commented.

She smiled a little. "Most people are in the south."

He hummed in response as he looked around. "We should get to the hotel soon, it's almost dark. I wish my mother hadn't insisted on driving me to your house." He said.

"There's no need to be in a rush… if I can remember, this place is usually lit up at night." She assured him.

"Okay…" He sighed, nervously tapping his fingers on the table.

"Don't be all anxious, Tristian." She said, hitting him gently in the chest. He seemed to try to make his body less tense but he didn't look as relaxed as the other people in the pub.

Belle was walking by when Jayla stopped her. "Could I get a butterbeer and bubble juice." She requested.

"Sure thing." She said, smiling warmly like before. Belle sped away, getting back to work.

Jayla rested her head on Tristian's shoulder. "I'm a bit tired… Couldn't sleep last night." She sighed.

He timidly wrapped his arm around her. "We could go back to the hotel if you're too tired." He suggested.

"Not quite yet…" She said, tapping on his hand that was resting on her bicep.

Belle came around, leaving their drinks and the lingering sent of a sweet perfume. Jayla automatically took a sip of her butterbeer and hummed. "Missed this." She commented.

He looked down at her and smiled as he grabbed his beverage. "I've missed you."

She smiled and looked down. "I've missed you, too." Jayla said.

Tristian looked up at the spiral ceiling. "I have a feeling this is going to be a good trip."

"Agreed." She said.

Four drinks later and a whole lot of laughter, they walked out of the bar together. Jayla somehow convinced her friend to give her a piggyback and they walked to the hotel like that.

They got to the front counter of the hotel and encountered an employee named Alexander. Jayla slipped off Tristian's back. "Hello, how may I help you?" He asked, offering a warm smile like Belle.

"We need to check into a room under Wynwood." Jayla said, tucking some of her hair behind her ears.

He nodded and typed into a computer that was in front of him. After getting the spelling right on the second attempt, he found their room. He handed them an old key and they were off.

They stood in an old elevator and Jayla could feel that Tristian was tense. "Are you alright?" She asked.

He nodded unconvincingly. Giving him a pointed look, she crossed her arms. He cracked. "I'm… I'm nervous… My nightmares… they're going to wake you and you're going to think I'm weird." He sighed.

She rolled her eyes. "You've already woken me up with your nightmares and I don't think you're weird. It's okay that you have nightmares. And if you do tonight, I'll stay up with you." Jayla assured him.

The elevator stopped. The doors opened to reveal their floor. They walked in silence to their room which was a bit down the hall. She opened the door and it was just as it was portrayed in the description on the website. There were two beds, a few armchairs, a desk, and a bathroom. The decorations in the room itself were pretty nice. The theme seemed to be dark purple with whispers of gold coloring.

Jayla threw her stuff on one of the chairs and flopped onto her bed. Tristian chuckled behind her. "Theodora, do you want to use the bathroom first?" He asked.

"You can go first." She told him, muffled by the bed. She could sense he was smiling as he shuffled away.

She turned to be on her back. Jayla noticed the ceiling had stars painted on it. She admired it for a few minutes. The artwork above her relaxed her. She felt her eyes closing and didn't bother to stop them.

What felt like a few seconds later, she was awoken slightly by someone touching her. Their hands were scooping under her knees and back and picking her up. After a bit of ruffling noises, she felt herself being slipped under the covers of the bed. "Goodnight, Theodora." The voice of Tristian murmured before lips grazed her forehead.

She smiled as she dozed off again.

"Non!" Someone yelled.

She scrambled up. Jayla heard the yell again and recognized it was Tristian. She couldn't see him since it was dark in the room but she lunged towards where the sound was coming from. She hit his mattress with her hips. She could now see the figure of Tristian thrashing around in his sheets.

She grabbed where she predicted his shoulders would be and shook them like a sandy towel. "Tristian, wake up!" She said.

His torso bolted forwards. This time, she had the sense to move out of the way. He was breathing heavy as he ran both his hands through the hair on his nape. She got up from kneeling by his bed and walked over to the window and opened the curtains which provided minimal lighting.

She went and sat on his bed. He looked up at her. His eyes were watery and his cheeks were red. He grabbed her hand and tugged on it to pull her into his arms. "Don't die." He ordered.

She smiled sadly. Jayla pulled away from his chest slightly and cupped his face. "I won't anytime soon." She promised, looking into his brown eyes. He put his hand over one of Jayla's that was cupping his cheeks and looked at her with desperate eyes.

Suddenly it felt like she was back in her days of elementary school when she was just a young child. She'd never be paying attention during the wrong moments. Every once in a while, she'd get clunked in the face with a dodgeball or maybe even a basketball.

She felt was like someone had just dropped a medicine ball on her head and it had traveled through all the floors of the hotel, dragging her with it.

She fancied Tristian.

Jayla knew there was no stopping it.

She had assumed that her strong feelings for him were admiration. He was beautiful and intelligent. He seemed so perfect in her eyes. It was clearly adoration rather than admiration.

"Theodora, are you okay? You look like you're going to vomit." Tristian said, touching her hip.

She brought herself back to Earth. "Yeah-h…" She uttered, looking down. It wasn't like any kind of fancying she had ever felt. It wasn't like what she felt for Liam. Her feelings of Charlie were nothing compared to this. Even her short-lived obsession with Katashi didn't stand a chance. All those crushes didn't mean _anything_ when she looked at Tristian.

He bit his lip and rubbed her arm. "You looked scared."

"I'm not." She muttered quickly. Spending four years in Gryffindor, she had been scoffed at any time she was scared. After one of her nightmares, Aisha and Angelina laughed when she cried. Being considered a coward was far worse than anything else in her house. And if she were to say she was scared of liking a boy… She'd be teased mercilessly.

He looked at her with furrowed eyebrows. "You can talk to me." He said in a very serious tone. She could feel how much he believed in his words radiating off his very fingers that were touching her.

She looked away from him again. "Yeah…"

There were a few moments of silence. She finally looked up at him. He was already staring at her. What if he did like her? But what if it all hit the fan? Her lip wobbled. She was so scared of her own feelings. Jayla felt so silly but couldn't shake her fears. What was wrong with her?

Jayla wished she could tell Tristian. He'd know what to do. He wouldn't judge her either.

Though, obviously, she couldn't tell him.

She _could_ however, have him comfort her bewilderedly.

The witch wrapped her arms around his shoulders and stuffed her face into his chest slightly forcefully. He fell backwards, lying down, from her momentum. She made no attempt to move.

Tristian sighed and ran his fingers through her hair.


	39. Chapter 39

Waking up was odd. She felt her legs tangled with someone else's and didn't even feel panicked. She just felt safe in the arms of who was holding her. She didn't bother to make any kind of movement until she was uncomfortably bored.

Opening her eyes slowly, she saw Tristian's sleeping face. He looked tranquil and beautiful. Some parts of his blonde hair was skimming over his eyelids while others were like ready to harvest wheat, sticking straight up. His lips were slightly parted like a child. It made him look so young, so much more so than when he was awake. He always seemed to have the darkness in his life living in the back of his mind when she looked into his eyes. He had been that way the whole time she knew him. At that moment he truly looked fifteen. In some moments, though, she'd seen him seem genuinely content and revived. He looked that way as he slept. She pressed her lips together to stop herself from grinning at how beautiful and youthful he looked.

As she stretched, she remembered the night before's events. Her feelings were sadly still there waiting in the pit of her stomach menacingly. She carefully slipped her legs from Tristian's, trying her hardest not to wake him. Being successful, she smiled down at Tristian.

Jayla walked to the bathroom and took a shower, trying to think of what she was going to do. She decided she write 2D somewhere along the line since he was the person she used to go to for emotional advice. Even though some of his advice wasn't always sound, he would never make fun of her emotions. On the other hand he'd never stop saying, "I told you so."

She dried off and got dressed. Jayla felt apprehensive before emerging through the bathroom door. Seeing Tristian had woken up, her heartbeat increased colossally. She had but a second to worry of how she looked before he saw her and smiled. It made her feel calmer. "Good morning, Theodora." He said.

"Morning." She said, running her fingers through her hair timidly. Her fingers caught a knot and panic rushed all over her again. She hoped she looked okay.

He grabbed clothes from his what seemed to be ever expanding bag. He moved passed her and into the bathroom. She took a few deep breaths.

Sitting on her bed, she opened her flip phone. Jay had a short conversation with Carol about the night before, completely excluding what happened pass when they entered the hotel room. Once Carol was sure Jayla was okay, she said goodbye, having to get to work.

Tristian emerged from the bathroom. "You want to get breakfast downstairs?" He suggested.

She nodded and followed him out silently. They got in the elevator and he wrapped his arm around her. "What's wrong, Theodora? You're so tense." He said, squeezing her shoulder.

"I'm okay." She said, leaning her head on his shoulder.

He touched her cheekbone. She tried not to suck in a breath. Touching for them had never been weird. Now everything had changed. "You've got an eyelash." He told her, focusing on her face. He was so close to her she could see his freckles again. They were barely ever close enough for her to see the constellations on his face.

"Remember when I got my hair caught." Jayla breathed in a laugh as he picked the small hair off her cheek. Seeing his freckles reminded her of the event.

He held it in front of her. "Make a wish." He said. She smiled at him before blowing the eyelash off his finger. She wished for all to go well during the trip. Even though she'd love for everything to work out with Tristian, she was hoping for her parents to be easy to find much more. "And, yes, I do." He told her.

The elevator door opened. They walked out and Jayla tried to stay under his shoulder. He let her. "You're a pure-blood, huh?" He said. He almost sounded nervous.

"Yeah… I guess… I don't really care." She replied, shrugging.

"It's funny, isn't it? Elizabeth spent all this time terrorizing you to for being a muggle-born but it turns out you were her pure-blood cousin." He laughed.

She smiled a little. "Yeah… it's weird."

They sat down and had a nice breakfast. Once they were done, they headed out for the address that Mrs. Westerfield had given them. It was on the other side of the city but Jayla didn't mind walking with Tristian. She was quieter than usual but he made up for it by talking about the history of New Orleans. She would've been bored but there was something impossibly intriguing about Tristian's slight French accent.

When they reached the front of the apartment complex, Jayla had a lot of feelings churning in her stomach. She felt like someone was making a recipe for a nervous breakdown, throwing in some anxiety, a cup of excitement, and a pinch of scared uneasiness.

Tristian grabbed her hand, making her snap back to reality. "It's okay, Theodora." He promised, kissing the top of her head.

She nodded quickly and began to walk up to apartment number twenty. It was on the first floor and didn't take long to get to. Soon enough, she was standing in front of a door. A door that separated her and her parents.

She took a deep breath and looked at Tristian. He gave her a look of reassurance.

She knocked.

There was shuffling on the other end of the door. Her parents, they were so close!

The door opened, only to reveal a short Asian woman. "Hello?" She said with a confused expression. She certainly wasn't her mother.

"Uh… hello, I'm looking for a Jeremy and Naliha Igwe…?" She let out, all her expectations feeling crushed.

"Igwe? I have no idea who that is." She said, raising an eyebrow. "I think… actually… I have gotten mail for them before… They must've owned this apartment before me." She reconsidered after a moment of thought.

"Oh…" Jayla said.

"Well, good day." The lady shrugged, closing the door.

She looked at Tristian. She didn't notice her bottom lip was sticking out until his eyes saddened. He brought her into his arms and rested his chin on her head. "We'll find them, Theodora. I promise."

She nodded and sniffled. There was still hope to find her parents. He led her from the door and to the outside of the apartment. She bit her lip as they walked in silence.

"What if we don't?" She asked after at least ten minutes.

"Don't what?" He repeated.

"What if we don't find them and this whole trip was for nothing." She whispered.

"We will." He said, looking down at her with a sincere expression. "I know it." Tristian added.

The found the place where her parents friends were supposed to be. Her name was Cassandra Rickland and she apparently was often included in updates from her mother to Mrs. Westerfield. She took care of Jayla often when she was a baby and her parents needed to do things.

This time, Jayla was less excited as she knocked. As she heard someone walking to the door, she fantasied walking in and seeing her parents on the couch, having lunch with Miss Rickland.

The door opened and an old, stout, black woman opened the door. She wore a long, colorful skirt and headscarf that screamed gypsy. She seemed to tilt her head as she looked at Jayla. "Hello, I'm Jaya Wyn- well… you would know me as Jayla Igwe." She introduced herself.

The woman's eyes widened. "Jayla!" She exclaimed, hugging her tightly. Jayla caught a whiff of her strong perfume and felt like she was having de sha vü. Cassandra grabbed her hand and pulled her in. She sat her on a plush, brown sofa. Tristian followed awkwardly.

Cassandra ran off for a few minutes and came back with a cup of something brown. She handed one to Jayla and one to Tristian. "Who are you?" She asked warmly as she held onto his hands around the cup.

"Tristian." He replied awkwardly.

She nodded and kissed his cheek. "It is nice to meet my Jayla's boyfriend." Cassandra smiled.

"Oh- he's not my boyfriend…" Jayla said, cheeks burning.

Miss Rickland smiled knowingly. "Of course."

Jayla took a sip of the brown liquid. It was like coffee but a lot sweeter and less sharp in taste. She couldn't help but take another gulp.

"How have you been?" Cassandra exclaimed in a giggle as she sat next to Jayla on the couch.

Jayla smiled. "Good. I was adopted by some really nice folks. We lived in Connecticut originally but then I- I caused a problem and they decided we should move to England, where I went to Hogwarts. That's what's happened basically." She explained.

The old woman smiled and nodded. "That is wonderful news, my dear." She said. "Now, what brings you here?" Cassandra asked.

Jayla exchanged looks with Tristian. "Mrs. Westerfield said that you'd know where my parents are." She said.

Cassandra looked down at her hands which gave Jayla an anxious feeling. The woman let out a feeble, "They're dead… a car accident…"

Jayla felt like she had been thrown into space with no suit. She felt confusion first and then sadness. "They… can't be…" She whimpered. Hot tears were already beginning to pour out of her eyes.

"I'm… I'm sorry, Jayla…" Cassandra let out. "Stay right here… I have some things for you." She said, getting up and walking off.

"Tristian, they're dead." She uttered.

He was frowning deeply. "I know… I am… I am truly sorry for this."

"You said we'd find them." She whispered.

"We can go see their grave." He told her.

She couldn't reply. There was far too much going on in her head.

Cassandra came back with a wooden box. "These are things your parents wanted you to have." She said, holding the box towards her. Jayla took it into her hands and felt her hands tighten in anger. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair.

Tristian took the small box from her hands. He grabbed both her hands and held them in his. "Jayla, it's okay. We can look through this later if you want." He whispered to her.

Her face fell into his chest and she sobbed. He held her the back of her head and let her cry.


	40. Chapter 40

Her calves were half submerged in water. She moved them around as she ran her fingers across the splintered wood. It wasn't a smart idea but she wasn't one for the best decisions.

Tristian came and sat next to her on the peer. He handed her a snow cone and took off his shoes. "The person who I bought this from spoke French." He mumbled.

She didn't respond.

Looking down at the red and blue snow cone, she noticed where the two colors mixed to make a dark purple. She thought of her and Tristian. They were just too different. They would never work as a couple. She wanted to go out and explore whereas Tristian wanted to read. She couldn't keep dragging him places forever. She didn't want to settle down. Jayla placed her snow cone to be resting in her shoes.

"I hate it when you're quiet…" Tristian whispered.

She whipped her head to him. "You're _always_ quiet." She snapped. His expression saddened. Tristian looked away and bit his lip.

Jayla automatically felt guilty. "I didn't mean that."

This time _he_ ignored her comment.

"I'm sorry… I'm just in a pissy mood…" She muttered.

"Understandable." He sighed.

She pressed her lips together and breathed out deeply through her nose. "I just had this hope… you know?"

He looked at her. "About your parents?"

She nodded. "Yeah… I mean when I was put up for adoption, I was told that I needed a family. I told them I had one but they wouldn't listen." She mumbled. "I just thought I could have a family."

He placed his hand over hers and she looked up at him. The sun was setting behind him, making a reflection of purple and orange on his blonde hair. "You have a family… 2D, Amiyah, Carol, Simon… and me… we're your family. We all love you so much." He told her, lacing his fingers with hers.

Usually, his caramel eyes were hard to read but at that moment, his eyes were a highway billboard with a big, clear font. He meant what he was saying. He loved her and she loved him back. Even if it was just in a platonic way for him.

She still wanted to grab his face right then and kiss him but she couldn't bring herself to it. Tristian was someone that couldn't be in love with her. She wasn't smart enough or, more than that, she wasn't _thoughtful_ enough. He was too intelligent for her. She couldn't keep up.

And she felt like crying for what felt like the millionth time that day.

Not only did she not have any parents but she wasn't good enough for the guy she truly wanted.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt Tristian's hand leave hers. She kept looking down. "Theodora." He said.

Jayla didn't want to look up. She didn't want to look at something she wanted but couldn't have. That'd be torture. "What?"

"Look at me." He ordered. His voice shook.

She followed his instructions and she could've been looking in the Mirror of Erased for all that mattered. His expression was nervous and like he was about to do something he might regret. Most Gryffindors held that expression a lot but with a wild grin.

One second, Tristian's face was about a foot away, the next his face was touching hers, specifically his lips to hers. His lips were just as soft as she had pictured them to be. She was so surprised by what he did she almost forgot to kiss back. She wrapped her arms around his neck and let her lips move against his, feeling like a tree was growing in her stomach, its branches reaching out throughout her body.

He pulled away and looked panicked. "Oh my god… Oh my god…" He uttered.

Her grin turned into a frown. "What?"

"I shouldn't have done that… You're in a weakened state and I kissed you… you can't tell me no when you're like this… I…" He uttered, running both his hands through his hair.

She grabbed his hands. "Shut up." She said, smiling a little.

He raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"Tristian, I've been entranced by you since I first laid eyes on you. Whether I wanted to admit to myself that I liked you or not, I have for a while now. I realized it last night. I mean- it hit me like a bag of bricks, so it must've been for a while." She told him.

He looked confused. His hair had flopped in his eyes. "What?"

"I fancy you a lot… and it's not because of what happened today. I want you and that's it." She explained him, moving his hair out of his eyes and pressing a kiss to his newly exposed forehead.

Tristian still seemed dazed. "You… You like me?"

"Intelligently put." She teased, shoving him gently. His lips spread into a smile. "Yes. I like you."

He looked at her for a moment before tackling her, making her fall back on the dock. Her feet flicked the water as they stuck right out from his kiss.


	41. Chapter 41

She stuffed her hands into her pockets as they neared the graveyard. Tristian kissed her cheek from the back seat. It was stupid for her to be sitting in the front when Tristian was much taller but he had insisted.

Cassandra parked the car. She turned to Jayla and smiled sadly. "Come on." She said. Jayla got out of the car and Tristian was automatically at her side, holding her hand. She looked up at him and smiled a little. She couldn't have had a more supportive person to go through this with.

As they walked through the graveyard, Cassandra babbled on nervously. Though when she reached a certain tombstone, her voice faded out. "Here it is." She told Jayla.

She looked at the stones.

 _Jeremy and Naliha Igwe_

 _Proud parents and fighters…_

Under each of their names said their birthdays and the day they died. She tried to remember them.

She looked at her feet. She was standing over her parents. They were buried together. It felt so real in that moment. She'd never see them. They were there in the ground.

She could remember one thing specifically of her mother and father that stood out. They were always warm. _Always_. She remembered grabbing their hands when it was cold and always feeling heat radiating off of them.

Now they were cold. They were cold and dead. Probably just bones by their death date being years ago.

She fell to her knees. She couldn't help it. Tristian kneeled and wrapped his arms around her.

"They weren't the same after you were taken." Cassandra told her.

Jayla looked up at her. She thought a lot about how much she missed them and she always wondered if they missed her. "They wanted you to be happy more than anything else. And I think if they were right here to tell you, they'd tell you not to wallow in their deaths. Go out and explore New Orleans. They'd love that. They were excited to take you to the parades when you became old enough. You should go them. It's what they'd want, Jayla." She told her, touching her shoulder gently.

She looked at the gravestone. It didn't feel right in a way to what Cassandra was saying but it also did. She turned to Tristian and nodded. He squeezed her hands and smiled.


	42. Chapter 42

"I'm ready." She said.

"You sure?" Tristian asked, raising an eyebrow.

She closed her eyes and nodded. When she opened her eyes, he had taken wooden box from his expandable backpack. He handed her the small item. She took it into her hands and surveyed it. It had pretty patterns engraved in the dark colored wood. She looked at Tristian for support. He automatically sat next to her. He put his hand on the bed behind her and leaned towards her so their heads were touching. He kissed her cheek.

She ran her fingers across the polished wood before flicking the top up. It seemed to be expandable like Tristian's backpack. She pulled out the first thing she saw which was something that was a dark red fabric. It was quite heavy and obviously had a lot of layers to it. As she unfolded it, a note fell out. Tristian picked it up. " _This was my dress when I went to the Yule ball in my seventh year. I thought you might like it_. _Love, Mom_." He read out.

The fabric had a new meaning as she held it out. The top was bronze with beaded and stitched intricate details. The top had a sash going across it of a blood-red, sheer fabric built up to almost solid. The rest of the dress was mostly just the sheer fabric hung in different heights. It was beautiful.

She hugged it tightly. Her mother must've looked amazing in the dress. Jayla's mother had darker skin then her and Jayla was sure the color would've been perfect for her skin tone.

"That's a pretty dress." Tristian commented, yawning. His accent was always thicker when he was tired. Sometimes he'd even slip into French by accident. She had started to understand the simple words from him teaching her the language.

"It is." She agreed, folding up the dress and putting it to the side.

She went into the box again. This time she pulled out a lighter. It was encased in black metal and had beautiful, gothic carvings in it. She pulled off the note attached to it.

 _Glance into the flame, glance into the next room. I got into a bit of trouble with this one…_

 _Love,_

 _Dad_ _J_

She smiled at the note for some reason. She handed the note to Tristian. He read it and raised his eyebrows. "Pretty cool." He said.

She pulled out a leather book. She saw her parents with a baby on the cover. It must've been her. She bit her lip not to cry as she looked at the picture. Her mother was holding her and her father was trying to make her laugh by dancing around. Jayla saw herself laughing.

She cracked open the old book and began looking through the pictures. The first few were her parents throughout their school years. After those most had Cassandra in them. One showed her mother and father holding hands, facing each other as Cassandra read out of a book. Apparently by the labels at the bottom, they were getting married. Her mother was wearing a simple summer dress and her dad was wearing a sweater and khakis. They must've been marrying in secret, she guessed from the lack of fanciness. Nonetheless, her parents looked ecstatic. She looked up at Tristian who looked down at her. It was interesting… how Tristian had the same expression as her dad looking at her mother when he looked at Jayla.

The next ones Jayla's mother seemed to be pregnant. In the picture, her father was painting a watermelon onto her swollen belly. Jayla clutched her heart. Tristian wrapped his arms around her, placing his chin on her shoulder. "They were so happy." Jayla whispered.

"Seems so." He sighed, looking up at her with a sad expression.

Jayla flipped the page and saw Jayla as a newborn. "Aw…" Tristian exclaimed. "Look at your little fingers and toes… and your eyes were huge…" He commented.

"Shut up." She muttered, bumping her shoulder that Tristian's chin was resting on up. He just kissed her jaw.

She turned the page and there were pictures of her in the bath tub as a toddler. The pages went on as young Jayla grew up.

Then, she flipped a page and there were only empty slots for photos left. There were so many left. There was supposed to be so many more memories made.

She put the book to the side before she could overthink it. She looked in the box and saw a few more small trinkets.

The last few things had a note over it that said:

 _I put these in after their passing. Thought it'd be nice for you._

 _Love,_

 _C. Rickland_

She sighed and moved the note so it wasn't blocking the objects. Her father's glasses were resting on the bottom of the expanded box as well as what seemed to be her parents wedding rings. She took them and looked at them. The one she assumed was her mother's ring was a silver band with a small diamond. Her father's was the same but the band was thicker and there was no diamond.

She slipped her father's ring onto her thumb. She put her mother's ring on her ring finger on her right hand before putting everything back in the box.

Jayla flopped back on the bed. Tristian flopped back with her, staring at her as she stared at the ceiling. He inched his hand over to hers and laced their fingers together. She rolled over to lay on top of him. He wrapped his arms around her and gently glided his fingers up and down her back. She let herself cry.


	43. Chapter 43

They spent the next few days in New Orleans just to explore. Tristian got to go to different museums. Jayla got to party with Tristian during a festival.

Jayla wasn't one for museums but when they went to an art gallery the morning after a heavy session of partying, she didn't mind the quietness. For once in her life, she actually read the details that were printed next to the artwork. Also, just walking around holding hands with Tristian was quite nice.

Even though she could tell Tristian wasn't exactly comfortable with the whole festival idea, he managed to loosen up a little. They spent most of the night dancing together and snogging a bit. So to Jayla, it was the perfect schedule.

On the last day of them being there, Jayla woke up in Tristian's flannel with her head on his chest. She remembered walking home really late at night from a little concert in a dress and being cold. Tristian had given her his flannel, saying he was warm anyway. She also remembered giggling as he kissed her in the room and him smiling adoringly at her. She had fallen asleep almost directly after that. She sighed happily.

"You awake, ma chérie?" He mumbled.

Looking up, she saw Tristian looking down at her with his tired eyes. He had always had pink circles under his eyes, even when they were eleven. She wondered if that's just what he looked like or he had been having nightmares for that long. She didn't ask.

"Yeah." She replied, moving his hair out of his eyes.

"Hey…" He murmured, furrowing his eyebrows. "You want to be my girlfriend?" He asked.

She smiled as her heart jived. "Yeah, Tristian." The witch replied.

"That's good… That's good." He muttered, holding her closer.

She cuddled up to him and smiled. The year to come was going to be a good one, she could feel it.


	44. Chapter 44

"This is weird." Amiyah mumbled.

"It's not." 2D disagreed, looking at Ami.

She turned to him. "It is. Usually they were just chilling out while we fought but now they're… canoodling." Amiyah pointed out.

Rolling his eyes, 2D laughed. "Yeah but I mean, don't try to tell me you couldn't tell they liked each other."

"We're literally right here." Jayla muttered said from under Tristian's arm.

Tristian didn't seem to mind what they were saying as he looked down at her. "Tristian…" She whined.

He shrugged and kissed her temple. "It's okay." He said, his French accent very present. He had spent the last few days of their holiday in France and had yet to shake his accent. She loved it.

Sometimes, she had daydreams of going to France with Tristian. She could meet his mother and the rest of his family. They could walk around the city of love and have a good time. No worries. No exams. Just Tristian and France. She had already taken him to where she was from, then he could take her to where he was from.

Though, she was scared she never have that opportunity since her relationships had lasted a couple months at most. But when Tristian had asked her to be his girlfriend, she had a feeling of it being final. Maybe she was just in love.

That fact scared her. She wasn't quite sure if she should tell Tristian. She was scared. What if Tristian didn't love her back? What if he used that power against her?

"You okay?" He asked, looking down at her.

She looked up at him. "Never better."

She could hear 2D and Amiyah arguing and felt at peace. Maybe not everything had changed.


	45. Chapter 45

The train ride was interrupted by Jayla and Tristian having to go to the _prefect_ 's compartment. Jayla wasn't exactly sure how she was designated as one. She wasn't the best _student_ in her year. She _could_ see, however, why her roommates wouldn't be chosen to deal with first years. Tristian was more surprised than she was about their new shinny badges. Jayla wasn't surprised he got the prefect position. Most of the boys in his house were not the nicest people. Tristian's roommates were okay for the most part but didn't seem cut out for the job.

The other prefect in Ravenclaw was Drea and Lucrecia had somehow managed to make it to a prefect too. Jayla guessed that it wasn't that competitive to be a prefect in Slytherin when Lucrecia was the only semi-nice one.

She made sure to congratulate Clay for getting his spot on the prefect's list. Jayla was sad that 2D couldn't accompany her. Though it was good that Amiyah wouldn't be alone. He was with Rhea Bhat, thankfully. Since Birdie had the best grades in her house, Jayla was expecting her to get a spot on the list but luckily she didn't.

As they entered the gates to Hogwarts, something felt off. As she looked at Tristian, she could tell he felt it as well. He grabbed onto her hand and pulled her closer to him. She walked in front of him.

Amiyah and 2D jogged up to them. They both looked like they had just seen a ghost. The two of them wouldn't look in each other's direction. Amiyah was looking down with her hair covering her face, something Jayla had only seen her do once. It was when she broke her leg at Quidditch practice and cried in front of her whole team. It was the look of sad humiliation.

2D on the other hand looked panicked and ashamed. It reminded her a bit of the look that Tristian had had after he was worried he took advantage of Jayla after kissing her.

"You guys meet a dementor or something?" She joked awkwardly.

They both tried to fake laugh. Amiyah's sounded like a mere cough.

"Okay…" She let out, choosing to just ask Ami later.

Tristian pointed to the school. "Speaking of dementors…" He mumbled.

Jayla's eyes widened. There were cloaked figures floating around Hogwarts in the distance. "Oh my god…" She uttered. Shaking her head in disbelief, she looked at Tristian. He breathed uneasily. He slipped out his wand and pursed his lips. She followed suit.

They approached the castle and she felt more and more uneasy. She tried to focus on something else besides the cloaked figures but then she heard yelling.

"Claire! Don't look at them!" A boy called.

Jayla looked to the source and saw a blonde girl getting followed by a dementor. It was too late for the boy's instructions.

She automatically ran towards the girl. " _Protego Maxima_!" She exclaimed.

A shield came between the girl, supposedly Claire, and the dementor. She was sobbing on the ground and Jayla grabbed her arms to pull her into the castle but was overtaken by a feeling of grief. Looking up, she saw the shield had no effect on the dementor. She felt like she shouldn't do anything. She was absolutely useless anyway. She plopped herself on the ground and let the dementor take what it wanted.

" _Expecto Patronum_!" Tristian's voice exclaimed distantly. Every sound she heard was softened like she had earmuffs on.

Even though her eyes were hooded, she could see a bright flash light. She opened her eyes more and saw Falcon looking hologram chasing the dementor away.

She regained hope throughout her body. Jayla tried to get to her feet but stumbled a little. Jayla felt arms grab her and she felt safer. She was vaguely aware of being hauled into the castle. She finally focused her eyes and saw 2D had been the one to bring her into the castle. He ran his fingers through her hair caringly. "You're okay… You're okay." He repeated, sitting next to her and holding her closely.

"C-Claire…" She murmured, looking around for the blonde girl. She spotted the girl over Amiyah's shoulder with the boy who had been yelling at her trailing behind closely. He looked worried for her. Amiyah put Claire down against a wall and squatted next to her, seemingly asking questions. Claire seemed to be shaken up but otherwise okay.

Professor McGonagall appeared in front of her. She conjured a bar of chocolate onto her hand and handed it to Jayla. "Eat it." She ordered, looking down at Jayla with concern. As soon as she bit into it, McGonagall rushed off to Claire.

"Where's Tristian?" She asked 2D.

"I donno… eat…" He said in his thick accent.

She followed instructions but tried to get up. 2D pulled her right back down again. "He'll come." He promised.

He was right. Not more than thirty seconds later, Tristian was standing in front of her. She looked up, managing to smile. "Tristian." She let out in a sigh.

But Tristian didn't look happy. "You can't do these things, Theodora." He said unapprovingly.

"She was being attacked!" Jayla exclaimed, sitting up.

"No, Theodora… You can't just go out and try to save people when you don't even know what you're bloody doing." He snapped, making her glower down again.

She felt anger circulate her body. "Well, I'm blinking _sorry_ that I'm not as smart as you! I acted on instinct, okay?" She retorted.

His face grew livider. "No, Theodora, it is not okay! You can't go around throwing yourself into messes you can clean up! I know you're not stupid but tonight you acted like it." He yelled. Tristian had never yelled at her before.

Jayla could feel her angry expression crack into despondency. He picked out her biggest insecurity in their relationship and flung it in her face like hot grease.

Getting up, she pointed a finger at Tristian. "Fine! Be a bloody genius, living in books! But you can do it _alone_." She spat, feeling her eyes sting.

Her legs were wobbly and she grabbed 2D for support. He steadied her and she strode away from Tristian.


	46. Chapter 46

"Okay, this way, kiddos." Jayla instructed from next to Liam. He had been her male counterpart for her prefect position. If it had been Charlie, it would've been insanely awkward. But, luckily, things weren't weird with Liam anymore. Their relationship had been in third year, it didn't mean much. They could laugh about their relationship by their fifth year.

"Is it true that you were attacked by a dementor last night?" One short boy asked in a posh accent.

She looked down at him with a raised eyebrow. "Yes."

"Didn't your boyfriend save you?" Another kid asked.

"Yeah, what's it matter?" Liam interrupted, standing straight and towering over the kid.

"Nothing!" He squealed.

Liam smirked a little before ruffling the kid's hair.

Jayla rolled her eyes before turning back to facewhere she was going. She hadn't spoken to Tristian since their altercation. She regretted what she said but she was still brassed off with him. He stared at her all dinner. She ignored him and skipped breakfast that morning.

"Aaaaand this, my dear first years, is transfiguration." Liam announced. Jayla was so deep in thought, she almost walked passed the room.

The kids scurried in, excited to learn magic. She smiled to herself. The fun of magic never did get old.

Liam wrapped a friendly arm around her. "Are you alright, Jay?"

"Yeah, I'm 'right." She shrugged, looking at her feet. She felt Liam withdraw his arm and felt uneasiness radiating off of him. Glancing up, he saw Tristian standing next to Drea. They must've just finished bringing their first years to their class as well. He looked at Liam and Jayla with eyebrows furrowed in anger.

Not knowing how to react, she walked off to her first class of the day as quickly as possible.


	47. Chapter 47

"Have you heard about the new guy?" Angelina asked the lot of Gryffindor girls.

Jayla looked up from her potions text book. "What? Are you on about a first year?" She scoffed critically. She was in a bad mood and everyone around her knew.

"No, actually, Jayla." Angelina replied bitterly. "They've let in a student who's moved here in our year. He's from America, I believe… Kind of like you." She said, narrowing her eyes like she was lesser for not being from England originally.

Jayla rolled her eyes. "I didn't waltz into Hogwarts from America- I was a resident in England before I turned eleven, thank you." She retorted.

"Would you two please stop having pissy battles?" Amiyah groaned. She wasn't in the best of moods as well. Jayla was far too busy wallowing knee-deep in her own problems to even attempt to help Amiyah. The thought made her feel guilty.

"I'll stop when Jayla stops being so pissy, I'm sure." Angelina quipped.

" _Oh_ , shut up for once in your life, would you?" Linda exclaimed. "At least Jayla's got something to be bitchy about- whereas that's just your personality, innit?" She added.

Angelina gasped. "Well- at least I've had a boyfriend! No one wants to go near you with a ten foot pole!" She snorted.

Linda stood up from her bed. "Maybe, I don't want a boyfriend, you twit!"

Jayla couldn't take it any longer. "Oh my god! Everyone, stop fighting! I know we're all stressed out but we need to be civil, okay?" Jayla shouted.

Angelina rolled her eyes dramatically. "Fine." She agreed with annoyance.

Sighing, Jayla knew the only way to get Angelina to stop acting so snarky. Gossip. "Tell me about this American boy." Jayla said.

The Greek witch's eyes lit up. "His name's Caesar Selwyn. He's apparently supposed to move into _our_ house. I've laid my eyes on him once… he's quite the looker…" Angelina said.

"You're talking to Jayla Wynwood… She's dating Tristian Travert! Tristian could be a bloody model if he pleased. Though- he's got that kind of cold expression always… He'd have to be one of those high fashion models… not any Abercrombie kind…" Aisha ranted tiredly.

Jayla raised her eyebrows. She wasn't sure what to say in response to what her roommate said. Yes, Tristian had a kind of cold, distant expression when he spaced out and sharp features but when she talked to him, he seemed to thaw out. "He's kind." Jayla mumbled.

"I second that." Amiyah agreed, playing with a broomstick the size of her pinkie.

"Are you even dating him? I heard you two had a spiff." Angelina said, eyes showing hunger for gossip.

"That isn't really any of your business." Amiyah replied for Jayla.

She wasn't in the mood for Angelina or most anyone for that matter. "You want to go for a walk, Ami?" Jayla suggested.

"Sure." She replied, getting up from her bed.

They walked around the castle, trying to figure things out. Jayla told her about _exactly_ what Tristian had said and what happened with Liam earlier that day. Amiyah agreed that Tristian should be the one apologizing to her still. Though, she did suggest she assure him Liam meant but a broken quill to her.

"Now, what has been up with you?" Jayla asked her best friend, stopping in the middle of the hall they were in.

Amiyah stopped too and looked towards the walls. "I kissed 2D on the train."

Jayla's eyes bulged. " _What_?"

Amiyah sighed in exasperation. "I know!"

Scrambled, Jay waved her arms around slightly. "Please elaborate."

The Asian girl ran her fingers through her long, black hair. "Oh, I don't know… I just- he was being so nice to me, you know? He told me I had pretty hair but then we started arguing but he was doing that stupid, cheeky smile and I couldn't help it! I'd wanted to do for years!" She explained.

"Well…?" Jayla said.

"Well, what?" Amiyah asked.

"What did he say?" She questioned.

Amiyah looked away and bit her lip. "That's the thing… I ran away before he could even kiss me back!"

Jayla sighed. "You do love making things complicated for yourself, huh?"

She feebly tried to smile. "A bit."

"Well… I mean you can't go around avoiding him. He's one of your best friends. If he doesn't feel the same way, you stay friends." She shrugged, beginning to walk again.

Amiyah followed her anxiously. "I don't know what I would do if it didn't work out…"

Jayla shrugged. "I donno."

That's when she saw the brightest-organic blue that existed around a corner. "2D…" She muttered.

Amiyah's eyes widened and she dashed off.

So much for Gryffindor…

"Jayla! _Thank god_!" 2D sighed in relief as he saw her.

"Yay…" Jayla let out unenthusiastically. She knew exactly what he wanted to talk to her about. Why was it that she was always being pulled at by each arm by her best friends?

"Amiyah… that mad bat… she kissed me!" He told her, running his fingers through his messy hair.

"Oh?" She said, trying to act surprised. She decided she wouldn't tell either of her friends anything that the other said.

"Yeah! She ran off, too… couldn't even get a word in." He exhaled.

Jayla tilted her head. "What would be the said 'words' you'd get in?" She asked.

His eyebrows bowed in sadness. "Oh, Jay, I don't know where I'd start. I fancy Ami more than anyone I've ever met. She's… just… amazing…" He muttered airily. Jayla felt like rolling her eyes at his gushiness. "But…" He began more seriously. "She's one of my best friends! I want to be with her but I don't want to lose her."

Jayla leaned against a wall. She had had enough drama for a lifetime. "Ehm… I donno… maybe it's worth a shot, eh? I mean you guys could bounce back if shit hits the fan." She sighed tiredly.

He seemed to take her words into his brain and paw at it a bit. He tilted his head and nodded a little as he stared off into the distance. "I mean… It sounds like a good plan."

Jayla put little effort in putting on a smile. She probably ended up with a grimace but she couldn't have cared less.

"Oh, by the way, Tristian's in the library. Tried to speak with him but he seemed pretty cut up. I think you should talk to him. I know he said some mean things yesterday but… you did, too." 2D shrugged.

Jayla thought of Tristian pouring over a book and lacing his fingers deep into his hair. She pictured him upset and she couldn't help but yearn to go to the library. What 2D said was true; she had said some mean things. For Merlin's sake, she said he could be alone!

"I figure you're right. I might head there right now… we've got an hour until dinner, right?" She said.

"Correct." He answered.

She nodded and began walking in the other direction, towards the library. It was on the other side of the castle with unfortunately gave Jayla lots of time to think.

Why was _she_ going back to the boy who called her stupid? Shouldn't _he_ have ran to her to apologize the second he could? He was in the wrong.

But then, as she entered the library, she remembered why she was going to him.

Tristian was staring down at a book with the look of pure sorrow. His eyes scanned the lines of the book but she could tell he was processing about ten percent of it. Jayla bit her lip, feeling guilty. She shouldn't have spoken so rashly.

She walked over to Tristian and sat next to him. He looked up at her. "Hey." He mumbled, running his fingers through his hair. His eye bags were a darker pink than usual. It seemed he hadn't slept the night before.

"Hey…" She uttered, surveying her boyfriend's tired face. She wanted to run her fingers through his hair until he could fall asleep.

"I apologize for yelling at you." He told her.

"I'm sorry for not thinking about what I was saying." She said, looking at her hands.

"That's not what I'd want you to be sorry for, Theodora." He sighed. "You just don't get it, do you?" Tristian said, looking into her eyes intensely.

She felt dumb from his tone. "I guess I don't… when do I, though?" She whispered.

His eyes softened. "Theodora, you worry me. You throw yourself into harm's way so easily. Don't you think about how it affects me to see you hurt? I care about you and I don't want you to get hurt." Tristian explained in a gentle tone.

She bit her lip. "I can't help that I'm compulsive… It's who I am."

He laced his fingers with hers. "I like you for everything you are but… I just want you to try to be more careful." He told her.

She nodded. Why did Tristian always have to be so convincing?

He kissed her quickly before closing his book. "Let's get out of here." He suggested, getting up and tugging her along with him.

She smiled and wrapped her arms around her boyfriend.


	48. Chapter 48

"Thanks for doing this." Jayla sighed.

Tristian nodded and smiled at her. "Of course." He said, extending his hand for her to take. She smiled and took it, bouncing to be closer to him. She heard Mikio make puking noises behind her.

"Shut up, Kio-" She began, turning around but stopped midsentence. She noticed a boy with dark brown hair. He looked like the kind that would be casted to be her age in a movie but would obviously be much older than her. She could tell his eyes were dark blue from across the room. He had a perfectly structured face and muscles that it almost seemed someone had made him out of the best parts of different men in a magazine. He was definitely hot but Jayla didn't care since she was with Tristian. What made her freeze was that he was wearing a Gryffindor uniform and she had never seen him in her life. Unless he was one _very_ developed first year, he definitely hadn't been there the year prior.

"Who is that?" She muttered.

"Caesar Selwyn, remember?" Linda said from the couch.

Jayla made a short 'aw'ing noise. "I see." She said before shrugging. The boy, Caesar, looked up at her. He smiled and she felt shivers run down her spine. It was not in an 'Omg, I just saw Harry Styles!' kind of way but more of looking into the eyes of a serial killer shudder. "Let's go." She muttered to Tristian, scrambling to get out the portrait hole. He followed her and caught her when she almost fell from speed walking away from the Gryffindor common room.

"You alright?" He asked.

She knew Tristian wouldn't think she was crazy. "I have a _bad_ feeling about that guy."

He pursed his lips. "The guy with the dark hair?"

She nodded, earning a sigh from him. "I feel it too. He seems… off… Why would someone come to Hogwarts in year five? If I moved into the proximity of another school, I'd just make the hike to King's Cross Station every autumn."

"Yeah… it doesn't make much sense." Jayla agreed.

He turned into an empty classroom that obviously hadn't been properly used in a decade or two. Her boyfriend licked his lips and sat against a desk. "A Patronus Charm is very advanced, just so you know… So don't get frustrated if it doesn't work for a while." He told her. She nodded. "Basically, the incantation is Expecto Patronum. Though, to cast it you must think of a happy memory. It could be anything as long as it gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling, yes?" He explained.

"Okay." She nodded.

Jayla turned to face the desks in the classroom and put her wand up. She looked at Tristian. She had wanted to learn a Patronus Charm so she could properly combat dementors. Tristian was eager to teach her. He knew lots of weird, obscure spells. Some of them were very difficult.

For some reason, the first good memory that came to her was one of her parents. They were bringing Jayla to her first day of school. She remembered feeling loved. "Expecto Patronum!" She exclaimed but the memory turned sour. She remembered her mother screaming out while Jayla was taken away by CPS.

Black smoke flew out of her wand, causing her to be thrown backwards. She felt tears begging to spill out her eyes but she got up and yelled, "Expecto Patronum!". It didn't work yet again. She growled at her misfortune and tried again.

"Theodora, Theodora, Theodora." Tristian said, grabbing her arm. She looked up at him. His eyes were calming. "Stop for a second, okay?"

She sighed and nodded. "I really wanted it to work."

He tilted his head. "I didn't know the black smoke thing could happen…"

"I was thinking of a bad memory." She whispered.

Tristian's face filled with understanding. "I see… well… try to think of something happy. Maybe when Gryffindor won the house cup a couple years back?" He suggested.

She stayed quiet for a second, staring at her boyfriend. She knew exactly what she could use for a memory to make her happy.

She faced forwards again. She pointed her wand towards a chalkboard in the back of the room.

The memory of Tristian and her dancing in New Orleans filled her soul. She thought of a witty joke Tristian had made and smiled. Tristian moved her arm around in small circles.

She felt the power of the charm building up. She thought of Tristian kissing her and picking her up. "Expecto Patronum." She said, feeling the ghost of her boyfriend's lips against hers.

A small flicker of bright light emerged from her wand. It swirled around a bit but didn't form an animal like it was supposed to. It died out as Jayla broke concentration from her excitement.

"Tristian, I did it a little!" She exclaimed.

He smiled at her with that happy, little, closed-mouthed smile that she adored. "Good work. I would say it took me a bit longer to get to the point you're at." He told her.

She grinned proudly.


	49. Chapter 49

She barely stayed in the common room without one of her friends. Even then, she didn't stay in common room for that long. Ever since the year had started, she had felt uneasy in the common room. It was like she felt like she was going to be attacked. And it wasn't in a lighthearted Mikio and Troye tag teaming way. It felt like there was thick, dark clouds above Hogwarts, a hurricane waiting. She felt it most in her common room.

Someone flopped down on the couch next to her. She looked over and saw Caesar. He was grinning at her. It looked like he was trying to look friendly but his eyes held something too dark to pull it off. "Hey." He said.

"Hi." She said, feeling her heartbeat increase. It wasn't like in the way its speed changed when she saw Tristian, it was her fight or flight instincts.

"I'm Caesar Selwyn." He introduced, raising a suggestive eyebrow.

She subtly tried to move away. "Jayla." She muttered.

He extended his hand for her to shake. She complied and when she touched him, he was cold and hard. His hands were calloused and had an assortment of black metaled rings that for some reason felt menacing.

"It's an absolute _pleasure_ to meet you." He said, looking deep into her eyes. She hadn't felt so scared for a long time.

"Yeah… it's uhm… nice to meet you, too." She mumbled, shifting her legs.

"Jayla!" Someone called. Jayla bolted up, looking for any opportunity to escape the situation. She saw Amiyah looking semi neutral and semi sad.

"Excuse me." She said to Caesar. He was midway through looking her up and down. She felt self-conscious and wrapped her arms around herself. He finally looked up to her eyes and nodded, as if giving permission.

She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion before awkwardly walking to Amiyah. "That Caesar's a real creep." She muttered.

Mikio and Troye were bouncing by, seeming to have put a charm on their shoes to make them super springy. "Yeah, seems so." Mikio said, stopping.

Troye nodded. "Yeah, he's really, like, dominant. I was talking to Samantha Brown he just tried to grab all her attention. Funny thing is, two minutes after I walked away, he couldn't seem less interested in her." Mikio's best friend said.

Mikio looked at Jayla and then Amiyah. "Yeah, my brotherly advice is you both stay away from him." He said seriously.

Jayla had barely ever seen Mikio serious and it was quite weird to. "You're not getting soft on me, right?" Troye teased, shoving his best friend.

"You wish, Linton!" Mikio scoffed, jumping away from the two girls.

Jayla chuckled gently before directing her eyes at Amiyah. She had been very quiet throughout the whole encounter. Usually would've jumped at any chance to tease her older brother but she stood silently, looking at the ground, most of the conversation.

Pursing her lips, Jayla grabbed Amiyah's hand and pulled her to their dorm. No one was in there. "You okay?" She asked, sitting on her bed.

Amiyah shrugged. "Yeah…" She sighed.

"2D?" Jayla questioned.

The Asian girl nodded. "Isn't it always?"

"What happened?" She asked.

"Well… we finally spoke… he got me to stay… and we decided that we won't go out because of the risk of our friendship." Amiyah muttered.

Jayla sighed. "I don't know… I think you could survive it if you broke up. I mean, you and Luke talk now. I don't know if 2D and Birdie talk…" She said.

"I'd rather just have 2D in my life as a friend than to have let my feelings get in the way and not have him in my life." She said, flopping on her bed.

Jayla rolled onto her stomach and leaned on her elbows. "I don't think you guys can be just friends." She commented.

"I know." Amiyah said.


	50. Chapter 50

"I'll see you in an hour." She told Tristian, kissing his cheek.

"Have a good nap." He told her, smiling with crinkles by his eyes.

Jayla felt like it was required for her to take her nap. The night before she had had a dream about the ominous council of men that were talking about pure-bloods taking over that she had about once a year. Although, the leader who seemed to get stronger and younger in every dream seemed to sound really familiar. Nonetheless she had stayed up all night pacing in her room. Amiyah tried to comfort her slightly but she crashed after an hour.

She smiled back at him before saying the password to the fat lady. She walked in and felt a presence behind her. "Hey, Jayla." She heard someone say as she was midway to her room.

Jayla almost tripped as she turned around. Caesar. "Uh- uhm, hello." She said.

"That's… Tate, right? Tate _Travert_?" He asked, rolling up his sleeves. She put an odd stress on his last name like it meant something. It was strange that he didn't know his first name but remembered his last.

Shaking her head, she furrowed her eyebrows. "His name's Tristian." He told her and felt wrong doing so.

"Ah…" He let out.

There was a moment of silence. She decided to try to get away from him. He grabbed her arm. "You know… He's a muggle-born…" He muttered in a low tone.

She automatically felt anger coursing through her veins. "What about it?"

"Dunno…" He said with an idiotic smirk. "Aren't they kinda…" He began.

"Whatever you are going to say- no, 'they' are not. I'm a muggle-born, you know?" She snapped. Only a few seconds after she spoke did she realize what she said was a lie.

He narrowed his eyes as he smirked harder. "Are you now?"

She felt like he could see right through her. "Yes. My last name is Wynwood."

"Okay…" He chuckled.

She groaned and turned again. Jayla was allowed to make it eight steps before she had to hear him again. "And Jayla…" He said.

Jayla turned and glared at him. She felt like fire was coming out her ears. " _What_?" She hissed.

He licked his bottom lip. "If you're ever final realize you want a real wizard, do come find me."

"You are one of the grossest people in this school. I'd rather not be with someone who makes me what to projectile vomit." She snorted maliciously. Jayla turned on her heel and stormed off to her room.


End file.
